Health Minister launches Mental Health and Learning Disability Action Plan

Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey today launched an action plan which aims to address issues in mental health and learning disability services.

The Bamford Action Plan 2009-2011 sets out key actions which a range of government departments will be undertaking over the next two years. This follows on from a consultation last year on the Executive’s response to the Bamford Review of mental health and learning disability.

Speaking ahead of World Mental Health Day, the Minister said: "Actions speak louder than words. I, and the rest of the NI Executive, remain committed to seeing through the reforms for mental health and learning disability services which were recommended by the independent Bamford Review.

"The consultation last year showed that people were generally in favour of what the Executive proposed, but they wanted to see changes actually happening.

"This action plan makes commitments about work that will be done over the next two years by a number of key departments. It gives dates by which the work will be done and says what the expected benefits will be for people with mental health needs or a learning disability and their families and carers.”

He continued: "For too long, mental health and learning disability services have been underfunded. The messages from the Bamford Review brought this home to me and to my colleagues on the Executive.

“I was able to secure additional resources for mental health and learning disability and all of the actions in the Plan can be delivered within our existing resources.”

There is a commitment in the plan to review it and roll forward to a further plan in 2011, taking account of progress and the levels of funding available at that stage.

The Minister added: "The Bamford Review envisaged a 10-15 year time span to turn these services around. This action plan is a start, but we will need to review and update the plan in 2011. We will have to take account of what funding is available at that stage and what the next priorities are.”

Those who use the services and their families and carers will have an opportunity to have a say in whether the action plan is working. The Patient and Client Council has been asked to set up a Bamford Monitoring Group, made up of service users and their carers, to assess whether the changes are making any difference to people’s lives.

The Group will report to the Health Minister. He concluded: "All of this work on Bamford is meaningless unless people who use the services feel that it is an improvement. The Bamford Monitoring Group will give me a real sense of the impact of the reforms.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Bamford Review published a series of 10 reports between 2005 and 2007. The reports are available online.

2. Consultation on ‘Delivering the Bamford Vision’, the NI Executive’s response to the Bamford review was carried out in mid-2008. That document and a summary of responses to the consultation are available on the DHSSPS website.

3. The Action Plan 2009-2011 contains commitments to action from Departments across the NI Executive to support people with mental health needs or a learning disability. This document can also be found on the DHSSPS website.

4. The Patient and Client Council has set up a Bamford Monitoring Group made up of service users, their carers and groups that represent them. The purpose is to get their assessment of whether the reforms being put in place are making a real difference to the lives of those who use the services.

5. World Mental Health Day was started by the World Federation for Mental Health in 1992 and has been observed on 10 October every year since. The purpose of World Mental Health Day is to educate the public about relevant issues concerning mental health.

6. Media enquiries to DHSSPS Press Office on 028 9052 0074, or out of hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.