While the Government’s announcement of €20 million to further develop community mental health services indicates a continued commitment to A Vision for Change, significant cuts may still be required from mental health services that could offset the ring-fenced funding. People with long-term mental health conditions will also be hit by a number of measures that will reduce their income, such as the increase in the prescription charge, increase in the number of days a person must wait before receiving illness benefit and discontinuation of the telephone allowance.
Health:
- HSE on-going expenditure is down 2.5% in 2014, from €13.393 billion to €13.052 billion, with total savings measures required of €666 million
- If the overall savings figure is applied to the mental health budget, the savings of 2.5% would equate to approximately €18 million
- €20 million ring-fenced for the further development of community mental health services, in particular for
- Adult community mental health teams
- Child and adolescent mental health teams
- Specialist community mental health teams
- Additional Resource Officers and initiatives for suicide prevention
- €37 million allocated to fund free GP care for all children under age 5
- Increase in prescription charges from €1.50 to €2.50 per item, with the monthly cap increased by 28% to €25
- Increase in medical card threshold for people over age 70
- Replacement of retention of medical card on return to work to GP visit only card for long-term unemployed
Social Protection:
- No change to basic social welfare payments
- Increase in the number of waiting days for entitlement to illness benefit from 3 to 6 days, from January 2014
- Discontinuation of the telephone allowance for all recipients, from January 2014
- Increase in the rent contribution required of couples on rent supplement by €5
- No sign that the Department took on board MHR’s recommendation on extending the Supported Employment programme to all people with a mental health disability who want to work
Children and Youth Affairs
- Construction of new Children Detention School Facilities in Oberstown, with a time-frame that all children and adolescents under age 18 will be transferred to Oberstown by the third quarter of 2014
Housing
- No sign that the Department took on board MHR’s recommendation on providing a funding stream for tenancy sustainment support
- Some funding for additional social housing for people with disabilities, but it is unclear whether this will include individuals transitioning from HSE mental health service accommodation into the community