Mental health fall out a key priority in Trust’s COVID-19 reset plans

The Western Trust confirmed that mental health services were a key part of its stage one plan to reset services as the number of COVID cases falls.

At a media briefing on Friday, Anne Kilgallen, chief executive of the Trust, said that while the number of patients with COVID had fallen, the plans were being tailored to ensure the Trust can rapidly respond should the levels of infection rise again.

“The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way services were delivered here,” she said. “Services were stripped down or scaled back and some new services were introduced to help us meet demands, Now that the first peak of COVID-19 pandemic has passed, focus has shifted to planning to restart services, while remaining sufficiently flexible so that services can respond to further waves of this disease.”

Elements of the stage one plan include “preparing for the impact the pandemic has almost certainly had on the mental health of our people,” she said.

Mrs Kilgallen said that mental health services have remained open throughout the COVID crisis, and while emergency referrals were at normal levels, like in A&E and elsewhere there had been a reduction in urgent or less urgent mental health referrals.

Work is now progressing to ensure that face-to-face contacts where needed will be re-introduced. “As part of our approach to dealing with people’s mental health into the future, we will be working very closely with community and voluntary sector and also with our colleagues in primary care,”

Mrs. Kilgallen said that the mental health practitioner, who is part of a new pilot multi-discplinary team across Derry, Strabane and Limavady, has had “a really important role to play in supporting and responding to the needs of people during the pandemic”.

“We will continue to build on that,” she said, adding that a key focus now was on “trying to get it right first time when people present so that they get directed immediately to the appropriate service to meet their needs”.

“We are specifically looking at our Addiction Services. Tier 3 specialist services are being re-established with an increase in face to face activity where it is safe to do so.”

Mrs Kilgallen also confirmed that Trust representatives have over recent days spoken with MLAs regarding the Council-led Crisis Intervention Service, which is in urgent need of financial support to keep going. “We are very supportive of the value it brings in the city area and we will do our best to advocate for that service wherever we can. I say that without hesitation,” Mrs Kilgallen said.