The priority that was ignored
TODAY, over eight pages, we look at the state of Guernsey's mental health services and chart some of the many good things that are going on.
TODAY, over eight pages, we look at the state of Guernsey's mental health services and chart some of the many good things that are going on.
Significant sums are to be spent, more professional help is to be drafted in and the dedication and care of those involved is beyond reproach.
And yet…
The fact is that the island is starting from a low base in terms of mental health care and the reality is that it doesn't even know how many people need treatment but are not receiving it.
Despite successive heads of the health department saying that this area was a priority, it has been treated as a Cinderella service and the fact that an estimated 8,000 islanders suffer from clinically significant symptoms suggests that many are not getting the help they require.
The absence of adequate primary care in this field guarantees that. It is a shocking indictment of the system here that some patients have to wait until their conditions escalate before they receive the care that they need and deserve.
GPs and others attempt to find workarounds but what is in place is not up to the task and it is revealing that new legislation replacing the 1939 law will not be in place until next year – another example of the 'priority' attached to this.
That Guernsey is where it is on this critical aspect of care is one thing. But it is how it responds that now matters.
This topic was largely ignored when the island had money. Now it has none, the problem is distressingly pressing.
Around one in five of the adult population is experiencing clinically significant symptoms at any one time. Left untreated, that is a potential burden on the rest of the infrastructure here, from schools, prison, police and clinical care.
A knitted-together approach is in everyone's best interests, particularly patients, but government cannot simply throw money at this because there is none.
The unmet demand will have to be met from within existing resources – not necessarily those of HSSD – which makes the prioritising and economising of the financial transformation project so vital.
Guernsey has now to decide what really is important for this community.
