Scrutiny Re-examines Mental Health Services

Wednesday, 2 February 2022 09:24

Scrutiny will review the government's mental health services again, 2.5 years after they were found to be suffering from a lack of leadership and investment.

A report published in May 2019 found that many of the buildings housing these services were 'dilapidated, uninviting, not fit for purpose, and completely unacceptable.'

Orchard House was singled out as being particularly bad. It was refurbished and praised in 2020 by a mental health charity for making 'very significant' improvements.

A project to build a dedicated acute adult mental health facility at Clinique Pinel started in the same year, but has been plagued by delays.

Recommendations made in the 2019 report included looking at other options for dealing with people in crisis, reviewing the fees charged by GPs for patients with mental health concerns, and asking service users regularly for their views on the quality of mental health services.

A further review and report in November 2021 - commissioned amid concerns about the slow pace of improvements - exposed a lack of leadership by senior management, and a failure to learn from serious incidents.

The Health Minister said the department had accepted all its recommendations and had already started taking action.

Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, who is leading the review, says they're keen to know what progress has been made:

"Mental health services are of vital importance to the Island and we are keen to know whether the needs of the community are being met and to ensure that the detailed recommendations made by the Panel in 2019 have been followed up on.”