Investment in mental health services needs to be front and centre of the Government\u2019s response to Covid-19, according to R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats.<\/p>\n
Speaking in the D\u00e1il today, Deputy Shortall said:<\/p>\n
\u201cCovid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on physical and mental health. At a time when demand has increased, service delivery has slowed \u2013 and in some cases stopped \u2013 giving the pandemic two strikes against our nation\u2019s mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith higher levels of depression and anxiety recorded across many nations, the UN has warned that the pandemic risks sparking a major global mental health crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know this is the case in Ireland. Research carried out has shown that, at a minimum, one-third of people in this country have experienced serious mental health difficulties during the pandemic. In young people, that figure rises to over half.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsolation and depression are on the rise as a result of the pandemic, and referrals for mental health services have significantly increased. Services which were already chronically underfunded have been left completely overwhelmed, and people who are in serious need of urgent care are left waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of 2020, there were nearly 2,000 children on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting lists. It is shocking that these figures are pre-Covid and it really illustrates how strained mental health providers already were before facing the additional impact of the pandemic. Since then, we have seen a 25% increase (now 2,440) in the number of children and young people on the CAMHS waiting lists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn primary care, there are more than 10,000 people across all ages on waiting lists to see a psychologist. We have seen this replicated across the sector. Ninety-two percent of Mental Health Reform members have said they require additional resources to deal with the impact of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless adequate funding is provided, the mental health impacts of Covid-19 will have long lasting implication for many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
December 9, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Investment in mental health services needs to be front and centre of the Government\u2019s response to Covid-19, according to R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats. Speaking in the D\u00e1il today, Deputy Shortall said: \u201cCovid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on physical and mental health. At a time when demand has increased, service delivery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n