Committee on Mental Health Care calls in heads of Community Health Organisations to account for Funding & Recruitment in their areas

Representatives from a number of Community Healthcare Organisations will address the Committee on the issues of primary care, recruitment and funding.

Committee Chair, Senator Joan Freeman, said, “Tomorrow will be a significant day because for the first time, the Committee is holding the Community Health Organisations under the Mental Health Service accountable for how they spend public monies and in the manner in which they recruit and retain staff. One of the fundamental problems with the review of healthcare in Ireland is a lack of black and white figures on the service areas that public money is spent on in each catchment area. There is an urgent necessity to break down the large figures that the Mental Health Service has already provided the Committee.

The ongoing saga of the recruitment and retention of clinical staff is also going to be addressed tomorrow. The inability to recruit and retain staff has now reached critical levels and it is no longer acceptable that this continues. Measures must be taken to increase workforces, particularly in rural communities.”

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here

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