A Tyrone-based charity is urging the new Health Minister to commit to building a long-delayed mental health unit in Omagh.
Andy Campbell, who founded the Together With Solace mental health group, says the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital’s current facilities are “outdated”.
The Hospital’s Asha Centre and Lime and Elm wards, which provide care for people struggling with addiction and their mental health, were opened in 1930 and 1955.
A new unit to replace these buildings was first promised for the town in 2016.
The Health Minister, Robbie Butler, the Department of Health and the Western Health and Social Care Trust all agree that the mental health facilities in Omagh need to be upgraded.
Despite this, and due to a lack of funding, the new unit has not been built.
Andy says there is a feeling of “frustration” and “disappointment” amongst people in the area over the delays, as well as “a sense that mental health has not been given the same priority as physical health”.
Together With Solace mental health group
While he understands that “a major facility cannot be delivered overnight”, he claims that the mental health services in Omagh “no longer reflect the standard of environment that people experiencing severe mental ill-health should expect”.
The original plans for the new unit would have seen the opening of a new alcohol and drug treatment facility, expanded support for older people experiencing mental health problems and upgrades to adult inpatient care.
Andy says the need for the new facility is urgent, with some people from West Tyrone having had to travel outside of the area to receive psychological support.
He believes being forced to leave the local community creates barriers for people receiving help.
“When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, the last thing they or their family need is the additional worry of travelling considerable distances to access particular treatment or support”, Andy explains.
“Being treated reasonably close to home means maintaining contact with family, carers and other support networks”, he says, “this is particularly important in a largely rural area such as West Tyrone”.
Citing the case of the Grangewood mental health unit in Derry, which opened in 2013 and has 30 ensuite bedrooms available for patients, Andy argues that people in Omagh, “deserve facilities of a similarly modern standard”.
He says the repeated delays in opening the new unit “contributes to a two-tier feeling within the Western Trust area”, with the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital’s buildings being older than those which Grangewood replaced.
Working regularly with people experiencing mental health difficulties, Andy says it can sometimes feel as though charities like Together With Solace are providing services which the Department of Health should be responsible for.
“The concern is that voluntary organisations like ours can increasingly find themselves picking up people who feel they have nowhere else to go”, he explains.
“Volunteers cannot continually be expected to fill gaps created by pressures elsewhere in the system”.
Together With Solace mental health group
Andy says it can often be difficult for people who are struggling with their mental health to seek help.
He believes that if the Department of Health doesn’t ensure “that appropriate services and facilities are there when they do”, people will not receive the care they need.
While Andy says he feels as though the concerns of locals “are being heard”, he questions “whether they are being taken seriously”.
“Mental health cannot continue to be talked about as a priority without that priority being demonstrated through investment and action”, he says.
While he is aware that the health service is facing funding issues, he says that the repeated delays have “become increasingly difficult for the community to accept”.
“Behind every delay there are patients, families and staff continuing to rely on facilities that everyone accepts need replacing”, Andy explains.
“How much longer are we expected to wait?”
Responding to the concerns raised about delays in building a new mental health unit in Omagh the Health Minister, Robbie Butler, said work on the facility could not begin until the Executive agreed a new budget.
In comments made to Tyrone I he said: “Whilst I remain fully supportive of this hugely important project, my Department’s ability to commit to funding capital projects such as the Omagh Mental Health Unit will depend on the Department of Health capital allocation from the Budget process. It remains a matter of deep regret to me that no Executive Budget has yet been agreed.”
The Department of Health also say they continue to support plans for the new mental health unit, stating:
“The Department of Health and the Western Health and Social Care Trust remain committed to progressing this project, recognising the significant benefits that modern mental health facilities in Omagh would bring for patients, service users, carers and staff across the wider West Tyrone area”.
“Officials from the Department and the Trust continue to work closely together to develop and refine the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) and in turn a revised Outline Business Case (OBC). This work is intended to ensure that the proposal reflects current and future mental health service requirements, demographic trends, changing patterns of demand, and the strategic direction for mental health services set out within the Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031”.
