Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020
724. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health the areas in which the €12 million allocated for existing mental health services in budget 2021 will be spent; and the reserves in place if this funding is not sufficient to meet the demand. [31565/20]
View answerThe Government is firmly committed to developing all aspects of mental health - legislation, policies and services. To maintain improvements to services in recent years, Budget 2021 saw an additional €50 million allocated to HSE Mental Health Services, bringing the total budget to €1,076 billion. This is the biggest mental health budget noted to date and signifies the Government’s continued commitment to mental health and the priority it deserves, particularly in these unsettling times.
€23 million is for implementing the short-term costs of Sharing the Vision in 2021. Some of these costs include the provision of additional beds, enhancing mental health teams, expansion of the clinical and dialectical behavioural therapy programme, peer support workers and the IPS employment and training initiative.
€15 million will assist with the challenges arising from Covid-19. The number of step-down beds will be increased and extra resources will be provided for community mental health teams. Reconfiguration of mental health facilities will also take place, in line with Mental Health Commission recommendations.
The remaining €12 million will help to cover the rising cost of existing service provision, including operational costs and placements for those patients whose needs cannot be met within the public mental health system.
It is expected that this additional €12 million will be sufficient to meet these increased costs.
