Richard Boyd Barrett: Government Misleading on Mental Health Crisis
Richard Boyd Barrett said the government is systematically misleading people about a recruitment and retention crisis in health services, particularly in mental health. He blamed the 'pay and numbers' strategy for preventing recruitment of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, OTs and speech and language therapists, cited a PNA letter on 700 too few psychiatric nurses, and highlighted graduates leaving abroad and the lack of 24-hour emergency mental health services.
Richard Boyd Barrett accused the government of systematically misleading the public about why staffing shortages exist, arguing their explanations obscure the role of the pay and numbers strategy in driving the crisis.
He said the pay and numbers strategy restricts different health areas' ability to recruit staff and specifically listed psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, OTs and speech and language therapists as affected. He referenced a PNA letter which states there are 700 too few psychiatric nurses because of pay and numbers.
He recounted a young woman who had to travel to the Netherlands for a master's in psychology because it is too expensive to study at home and who now works in a psychology department at an international school in Thailand. He said she would like to work in this country but cannot afford to live here and would need a PhD to do so.
He described regular clinic cases of people in mental health crisis, including threats of suicide, and said neither he nor his staff are qualified to handle those situations. He recalled an Oireachtas briefing where the practical advice given was to "call the guards" because 24-hour emergency mental health services are not available.
Claims of government misinformation
Richard Boyd Barrett accused the government of systematically misleading the public about why staffing shortages exist, arguing their explanations obscure the role of the pay and numbers strategy in driving the crisis.
Pay and numbers blamed for shortages
He said the pay and numbers strategy restricts different health areas' ability to recruit staff and specifically listed psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, OTs and speech and language therapists as affected. He referenced a PNA letter which states there are 700 too few psychiatric nurses because of pay and numbers.
Anecdote of graduate leaving the country
He recounted a young woman who had to travel to the Netherlands for a master's in psychology because it is too expensive to study at home and who now works in a psychology department at an international school in Thailand. He said she would like to work in this country but cannot afford to live here and would need a PhD to do so.
Emergency response gaps highlighted
He described regular clinic cases of people in mental health crisis, including threats of suicide, and said neither he nor his staff are qualified to handle those situations. He recalled an Oireachtas briefing where the practical advice given was to "call the guards" because 24-hour emergency mental health services are not available.
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Transcript
We're not allowed to use the word lies in here, of course, so what instead we'll have to say is that the government are systematically misleading people about why we have a recruitment and retention crisis in our health services in general, and very specifically in our mental health services. Because they fail to acknowledge that the reason we can't recruit or are not recruiting the staff we need, the psychologists, the psychiatrists, the psychiatric nurses, the OTs, and the speech and language therapists is because of the pay and numbers strategy, restricting the ability of different health areas to recruit people. I have a letter from the PNA who point out, came in to me yesterday, 700 too few psychiatric nurses in the country because of pay and numbers. And a personal anecdote kind of sums it up for me more generally. I know a young woman who's got a master's in psychology, which she had to go to the Netherlands in order to do because it's too expensive to study psychology here. And where is she now working? She's working in the psychology department of an international school in Thailand, where they have a department full of psychologists and young graduates from this country in Thailand. Now, she likes Thailand, but she'd also like to be working here. But you'll have to do a PhD here, and she won't be able to afford to live here. And this is the problem. You're not recruiting people because of pay and numbers. We have massively understaffed resources. We should have psychologists in every school, and indeed psychology departments in every school. But we don't because you won't recruit them in any way. It's too expensive for them to live here. One of the most stressful things I've ever come across, which happens fairly regularly in my clinic, is people coming in in mental health crisis situations, threatening to take their own lives. Now, I'm not qualified to deal with that, and neither are my staff. But when there was a briefing in the Oireachtas a while ago, where we asked the question, what should we do about that, we were told, call the guards. Call the guards! Because we don't have 24-hour emergency services to respond to those sorts of situations, which we should have.