Vol. 510 No. 5
24 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Health and Children the unit cost per resident of a community residence for the mentally ill, including professional support; the professional support provided by voluntary organisations; if he has satisfied himself with the adequacy of support from the community psychiatric services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22851/99]
Planning for the Future published in 1984, recommended a restructuring of mental health services and in as far as possible, the provision of a comprehensive psychiatric service to meet the individual needs of people with mental illness in their own communities.
The cost of each service area within the mental health service is published annually in the report of the inspector of mental hospitals. The cost of residential units would be an integral part of the total cost of each service. However, the unit cost per resident would be dependant on whether the unit concerned is a high support, medium support or low support residence and also on the number of people it accommodates and the number of staff which may be required for the unit. The inspector's report gives a description of all community services which are available and lists all the community residences by health board.
Professional support is provided to residential units and the level of support provided is dependant on the needs of the residents. Residential units are visited by the sector teams and by the inspector of mental hospitals and the inspector's comments on the support provided are forwarded to the relevant health boards.
All areas of the mental health services are encouraged to work in partnership with the voluntary sector which provides an important role in the provision of support services to community residences. Much of the professional support provided by voluntary organisations to persons suffering from a mental illness, for example, counselling, support groups, telephone helplines, newsletters etc., is funded by the health boards.
The Report of the inspector of mental hospitals for 1998 was published last week and I am arranging to have a copy sent to the Deputy.
