Muckamore response falls short
Sinn Féin General Secretary and South Antrim representative, Mitchel McLaughlin,
has said that the response of British direct rule Health Minister Paul
Goggins to the Muckamore Abbey crisis falls a long way short of what is
required and called for the full implementation and resourcing of the
recommendations set out in the recent Bamford Review into learning disability
and mental health.
Mr McLaughlin said:
"There is a
scandalously low level of commitment to our most vulnerable
children
which is inexcusable. What is needed is for the Department and
primary
care trusts to work together to develop and commission a
comprehensive
and seamless range of services that offer choice and
independence to
people with complex needs.
"Children, young people and adults who
have complex health needs require
coordinated, high-quality and
family-centred services which are based on
assessed needs, which
promote social inclusion and, where possible, which
enable them and
their families to live ordinary lives.
"This requires the
co-ordination of services and prioritisation of their
needs by a number
of professionals. For example, they may require nursing
staff, medical
staff, social workers, pharmacists or behavioural nurses. No
one should
underestimate the level of resources or co-ordination required to
support
a patient with challenging needs in an appropriate community
setting,
or the work needed to create such settings where they are not
available.
"Without
the proper investment in these services, these families will be
steered
into a spiral of dependency and poverty.
"Generally there is
inadequate commissioning of services, poor co-ordination
and a failure
to properly plan ahead with young people and their families.
Families
have to negotiate what is essentially a cats cradle of costly red
tape,
but tightening eligibility criteria mean that incredible strains are
placed
on parents to negotiate support from a system that rarely provides
what
is actually needed. This results in delays, multiple assessments,
confusion
and anxiety for all concerned.
"It will also be a waste of
resources - as well as a waste of young people's
potential - if the
support they are given as children is not continued into
adulthood, and
if they end up in expensive residential care that restricts
their
independence, often many miles away from their own home.
"For far
too long many of those placed away from home have been invisible,
deprived
of their right to communicate their concerns. Independent advocates
can
help these persons to make informed decisions about their lives and can
also
be a source of protection for children at risk in what is often a
closed
system.
"Often, such patients have communication difficulties and
need someone with
the time, patience and ability to help them to
express preferences. It is
noticeable that Paul Goggins has totally
failed to address this issue in his
announcement.
"While the
minister is issuing this knee-jerk action plan in response to the
wide
public reaction to the circumstances at Muckamore Abbey Hospital, there
are
also many more people with special and complex needs within the
community
who are waiting for assessments and assistance that never seem to
happen.
"What
is needed is the full implementation and resourcing of the
recommendations
set out in the recent Bamford Review into learning
disability and
mental health." ENDS