NORTHERN Ireland’s £1.2bn mental health strategy has received just £9m of funding so far, a Stormont Committee has heard.
The strategy for 2021-31 sets out the direction for mental health services.
On Thursday, mental health champion Siobhan O’Neill said she had “significant concerns” about the lack of investment so far.
Three years into the strategy, she said just an eighth of the necessary funding was being offered for 2024/25 – an expected £5.1m instead of the recommended £42m.
“The current financial situation that we find ourselves in is extremely difficult, however it is clear that, despite what leaders say about mental health being a priority, decisions have been made not to provide sufficient funding for the Mental Health Strategy, and not to provide adequate funding for mental health services,” she said.
Join us for live coverage of @niahealth from 2pm 📺
— Northern Ireland Assembly (@niassembly) May 9, 2024
Briefings:
🔵 @MHC_NI on Mental Health Strategy and Services
🔵 @BMA_NI on Secondary Care Doctors
🔵 @healthdpt on Westminster Victims and Prisoner Bill
View the full agenda - https://t.co/lvLJhJttJm https://t.co/59t4UqFQsq
- Nearly half of adults and children waiting longer than nine weeks for mental health servicesOpens in new window
- Junior doctors in Northern Ireland announce two 48-hour walkouts after pay talks break downOpens in new window
- ‘I’ll wake up at 4am thinking is that child safe?’ Belfast social workers strike over ‘extreme staffing pressures’Opens in new window
Setting out the “strong economic case” for more investment, she said the biggest difference would be made in the areas of crisis services, workforce (especially for those delivering psychotherapies), strengthening and integrating the community and voluntary sector into the Regional Mental Health Service as well as targeted investment in early intervention and prevention.
She called it “incredibly disappointing” that the Department of Health had only invested £9m in the strategy, costed at £1.2bn.
Around 7% of the health budget is allocated to mental health, behind England (11.39%), Scotland (9.41%) and Wales (13.32%).
Calling for ringfenced funding to avoid “costly, quick-fix solutions,” she added: “The changes are happening too slowly, and my fear is that the strategy will become out of date, and that it will need to be reviewed and updated.
She said that poor mental health costs the economy around £3.4bn annually and was likely responsible for over a third of economic inactivity in under 35s, while the estimated cost of suicide in Northern Ireland for 2022 was £340m.
“These costs can be reduced, and this suffering is preventable. The actions in the Mental Health Strategy will deliver effective treatments and early intervention prevention activities to reduce that cost,” she said.
