IN one of a series of seminars held recently by the Ministry of Health as part of its campaign to raise awareness about mental illnesses, Dr Maureen Irons-Morgan urged health professionals to take a renewed approach to mental health care.

“Those within the medical field and other health workers should realise that their attitude towards people with mental health problems will play a key role in destigmatising mental health problems and helping people and their families to cope with the illness,” Dr Irons-Morgan said. This, as she addressed a group of health professionals from the South East on the topic, “The Integration of Mental Health Care with General Health Services”.

According to Dr Irons-Morgan, mental health should not be separated from physical health and people with mental-health problems should have the same rights as other human beings. “Health workers should ‘preach the gospel’ of integrating mental health care with general health services, and should always promote good mental health, as this would help to decrease the incidence of mental illnesses,” she added. She also encouraged the health professionals to follow up the treatment of mentally-ill patients, some of whom will not voluntarily take their medication to control their illness.

The senior medical officer (SMO) pointed out that worldwide, the trend was shifting from placing people with mental health problems only in restrictive settings. But, depending on the severity of their symptoms, people may be treated appropriately in their homes, in the community or in hospitals. This, she said, has been proved to show positive results.

According to Dr Irons-Morgan: “Treat, rehabilitate and re-integrate” should be the goal of health professionals when dealing with the chronic mentally ill. She also revealed statistics where the number of patients in the Bellevue Hospital had reduced significantly over the years. She pointed out that in the 1970s the institution had approximately 3,000 patients, and in the 1980s that number was reduced to 1,500.

Today, she said, the number had dwindled to a mere 800-plus, with 68 of those patients residing in the Kenneth Royes Rehabilitation Centre in Spanish Town.

Allaying recent fears that the Bellevue Hospital would be closed soon, Dr Irons-Morgan said that no service at the institution would be cut until it is provided in the community. She said that the hospital, under the Ministry of Health’s mental health reform programme, would be phased out over a five-year period with the reallocation of services and staff to communities.

The range of services, Dr Irons-Morgan said, included emergency and crisis intervention where the mental health team on duty responds to mental-health crises occurring in the community. Other services include residential programmes where people with chronic and severe mental illness can live in a supportive home-like environment. Outpatient services, acute in-patient care and attention to the special needs of senior citizens are also addressed in those settings.

With the recent acquisition of four vehicles by the regional health authorities, courtesy of the Health Support Fund, those services, along with the Assertive Outreach Programme, will be greatly enhanced. The Assertive Outreach Programme involves bringing mental health care to people who would not access voluntarily the service, for example the homeless mentally-ill.

“Mental health services should always be provided for those who need it,” said the SMO, “and health professionals should be advocates of this.” Dr Irons-Morgan also called for mental health education to be added to the school curriculum. “This would be a great way to start to destigmatise mental illness and promote good mental health,” she said.

The mental health campaign will continue throughout the north east, southern and western regions.