Health Minister's statement on the Criminal Justice Inspect report on mental health

Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey said that the findings of the Criminal Justice Inspectorate report reflects the need for significant investment in mental health services across Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the report entitled 'Not a Marginal Issue' the Minister said: "There has been years of historic underfunding of mental health services in Northern Ireland with services underfunded by 25% compared to the rest of the UK despite the fact that our need is 25% greater. The level of mental health services available here is in direct proportion to the money available to be invested and the fact is that the health service budget in Northern Ireland is worse off than in any other part of the UK.

"This report supports my view that more resources for mental health services should be made available to improve treatment, care and support for all members of our society who have mental health conditions.

"I will now carefully consider all of the recommendations within this report and their applicability to Health and Social Care Services. However, any suggestion that a new high secure hospital should be built in Northern Ireland must be considered in the context of the very scare resources available to the health service and to the entire population."

Responsibility for prison healthcare in Northern Ireland transferred to the Health and Social Care service in April 2008 and is managed by the South-Eastern Trust.

Continuing the Minister said: "The Health and Social Care service works in partnership with the Northern Ireland Prison service to provide a broad range of services including assessment, care planning and treatment for the full range of mental health problems. When it is not possible to provide the required level of care in prisons, there are mechanisms in place to transfer prisoners to the appropriate services.

"In addition, the South-Eastern Trust, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Health and Social Care Board is developing a healthcare strategy, encompassing mental health services. This strategy will help drive service improvement across the three Prisons in Northern Ireland.

"A Service Improvement Board, chaired by the South-Eastern Trust, is also already in place to improve the quality of healthcare in Magaberry Prison . This programme involves all aspects of prison health care including mental health and addiction services. Where improvements are identified, this learning will then be transferred to other prison health services in Northern Ireland."

Notes to editors:

1. Mental Health legislation already exists in NI and has provisions within it if a question arises in the Courts as to whether an individual who is accused of a crime is fit to be tried.. In circumstances where an individual is deemed to be unfit, then the Court can order that the individual be admitted to hospital. For an individual who is serving a sentence in prison, he/she can be removed to a hospital if the individual is suffering from a mental illness or severe mental disorder and that disorder is of such a degree that warrants detention in hospital for medical treatment.
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