‘Scourge’ of tragic deaths and mental health crisis has ‘ravaged Derry’

Politicians from across the north west and beyond have presented a united front to demand long-term funding for Derry’s crucial Community Crisis Intervention Service.
Clockwise from left - MLAs Gary Middleton, Martina Anderson, Cara Hunter, Gerry McCarroll, Karen Mullan and Mark H Durkan.Clockwise from left - MLAs Gary Middleton, Martina Anderson, Cara Hunter, Gerry McCarroll, Karen Mullan and Mark H Durkan.
Clockwise from left - MLAs Gary Middleton, Martina Anderson, Cara Hunter, Gerry McCarroll, Karen Mullan and Mark H Durkan.

Politicians from all sides spoke of how vital the CCIS was to the north west during a special Assembly debate secured by DUP Foyle MLA Gary Middleton on Tuesday, and advised Health Minister Robin Swann that the service constantly being under threat of closure was not sustainable.

Minister Swann recently announced he was providing funding to keep the service going until March 2021 and urged Derry City & Strabane District Council and its partners, who introduced CCIS following a grass roots campaign in the city, to use this period to try and establish a long-term funding strategy.

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Mr Middleton said the Foyle constituency “continues to see some of the highest rates of self-harm with elevated numbers of individuals engaging in suicidal behaviour.”

Mr Middleton relayed statistics which show that hundreds upon hundreds of emergency incidents involving tragedies and rescue operations for people at risk of self-harm have been conducted over each of the past two years alone. “These incidents involve real people, human beings within our constituency; they are not just statistics,” he warned, adding that while there are many great charities doing sterling work, the statistics “make the case for the need to do things differently”.

“Far too many lives have been lost and families devastated,” he said. “One life lost is one too many. In 2019 the Crisis Intervention Service was developed to compliment the Western Trust’s 24 hour Crisis Service. This was run as pilot scheme, and has now been extended on several occasions for a few months at a time. It is unacceptable that time and time again a fight has to be put up to have this service funded at a basic level.

“The CCIS, its employees, its volunteers and most significantly the service users deserve better. Last minute funding decisions add to the stress and concern of those involved. We must look at a long-term, sustainable funding model going forward.”

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Mr Middleton, like the other local politicians, said he appreciated Minister Swann having championed mental health as a priority, but added, “I would plea we’re not standing here in March 2021 making the same arguments for the same service”.

Foyle Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson spoke of the stark reality facing people in crisis here. “From 1998 to 2018, 5,087 people have taken their lives in north. More have died by suicide that throughout the 40 years of Conflict,” she said. “Derry has endured a mental health and suicide epidemic. This scourge has ravaged the people of Derry, it shakes our communities to the core and it tears families apart, and yet a key life-saving service like CCIS limps on, months after month, receiving crumbs from the Department of Health’s table. No service can function properly with such financial insecurity.”

Ms Anderson spoke of the absolute heartbreak so many have endured, including desperate families “organising search parties to bring their daddy, mammy, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, friend home,” while Foyle Search and Rescue and others assisted them. “They were voices crying out for help and it is our duty, especially your duty now Minister, to ensure their cries do not fall on deaf ears. That is why Derry needs a Community Crisis Intervention Service. This service literally saves lives.”

Mark H Durkan, SDLP MLA, said there was “unanimous and strong political support in Derry for CCIS and with very good reason”.

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“Often in this Chamber, more so than out in the real world, we see or hear division over the daftest of issues and sometimes over fundamental political ideology, but this issue, suicide prevention, saving lives is something that should unite us all and does unite us all.”

Commending the Council for taking the lead in setting up the service, he claimed certain health authorities had to be “dragged to table”, in contrast to life-saving charity Foyle Search & Rescue, which was among those who readily committed funding to get it going.

“The service has been a success. The Minister will have read the evaluation. It has saved lives,” Mr Durkan said, but warned that it was “lurching from funding crisis to funding crisis”. “The dark cloud and spectre of closure hanging over it is not just bad for the morale and retention of the diligent, dedicated staff. It’s bad for the collective well being of our city,” he warned, adding: “Derry City & Strabane District Council didn’t embark on this for the craic. The rates of suicide and self harm in the north west are shocking, they are scandalous. It is just so sad. I commend the Council in their efforts to get this up and running. They had to do it, no-one else was going to do it.”

Mr Durkan said while others in health services were also working flat out, there was a clearly a problem in terms of people accessing urgent help at the point of crisis. “The Executive has to lead on this as well. Talk is cheap, life is precious. Saving lives is precious. It needs done Minister, please do it,” he said.

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Sinn Fein Foyle MLA Karen Mullan meanwhile said: “There is a big enough crisis in my city over mental health without a crisis every six months over finding funding for this vital service. Minister I know how much you care, and this has also been demonstrated by the very welcome appointment of Professor Siobhan O’Neill as Interim Mental Health Champion. But the people of Derry have been expecting announcements and action in relation to the future of Crisis Intervention. When someone reaches out for help and support they must have access to it.”

Ms. Mullan called for CCIS to be factored in to the review of Mental Health Services, and paid tribute to Extern, which delivers CCIS, as well as Foyle Search & Rescue, the Council, PSNI, WHSCT and the Steering Group, without whom, she said, the service would not exist.

She also pointed out that the current cost of running the CCIS at £130,000 per year was “small change” in comparison to the overall health budget.

North Down UUP MLA Alan Chambers praised Minister Swann for personally intervening twice to provide funding to keep it going. “Whilst other Departments and statutory bodies often talk a good talk, it is regrettable none others only Mr Swann were able to offer even a part,” he said, adding that they all need to dig deep into their pockets towards a long term funding package and for longer operating hours as the service currently only operates between Thursday and Sunday.

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Cara Hunter, East Derry SDLP MLA and former Deputy Mayor of Derry & Strabane, said she was “greatly impressed by the commitment and work” of CCIS. “In the midst of a global health pandemic the need for on the spot mental health support is painfully apparent. If we cannot afford to fund this life-saving service what sort of message are we sending to the wider public?” she asked.

People Before Profit West Belfast MLA Gerry McCarroll agreed this was “a vital amenity for the city and the North West”.

“Derry and the North West, like my own constituency of West Belfast, suffers disproportionately from the legacy of deprivation and disinvestment,” he said. “The New Decade, New Approach agreement makes a series of commitments to develop Derry and the North West. What message does it send to people there when they are forced to organise an all-out effort every couple of months to keep the doors open of a service everyone agrees is vital?

“ This sends the wrong message and people in Derry will tell you that. People in Derry are fed up with half a loaf treatment.”

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Minister Swann reiterated that mental health is a priority. “For far too long people have struggled to access appropriate mental health services when they need them; for far too long suicide has cast a shadow over our communities and robbed us of too many lives,” he said.

He said suicide prevention was not a single issue, but interlinks with addiction and deprivation. He said the forthcoming Protect Life 2 strategy focuses on suicide prevention as a societal issue.

The Minister said he was aware the Council and Extern had written to a number of Departments, and his own Department was the only one that responded financially, and he also revealed that separate funding arrangement is now being explored for after March 2021 by both Council and Extern.

“Over 475 have received critical and immediate intervention,” he said. “I have no doubt this service has saved lives, some brought by FSR, PSNI, family and friends,” he said, adding that the CCIS had been beneficial for the PSNI in terms of allowing them to safely transfer someone in crisis, which in turn allowed officers to tend to other duties. Mr Swann said there was a strong argument for the Justice sector to fund such initiatives going forward, adding that the future model for funding required collaboration across various government departments and stakeholders.

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He also confirmed that the new Mental Health Action Plan will take into account the evaluation of CCIS in Derry.

Anyone in distress can contact Lifeline on 08088088000, Samaritans on 116123 or the Derry-based Community Crisis Intervention Service on 02871262300.