Member of Parliament for St James South Sandra Husbands has called for a more systematic approach to dealing with people who have mental health issues and also for a hospice-type facility to house those suffering from depression.
As she put questions to Ministry of Health and Wellness officials when discussion on the Appropriation Bill, 2022 continued in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, Husbands said: “Speaking from experiences I have had within my constituency, where people have a relative with mental health issues who may be creating a disturbance within their community, it seems as though getting help from the Psychiatric Hospital has been a challenge for them and this puts additional stress on the family as well as the patients. What is being done to address this?
Consultant psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Hospital Dr Brian Maclachian responded that in cases where a family is having trouble with a relative, they should call the Assessment Unit and inform them about what was happening, then the community health nurse would visit and assess the situation, discuss it with the community psychiatrist and decide the best course of action from there.
“Now, we have found that most relatives want the person admitted and for a prolonged period of time but COVID has limited our ability to do that because we have allocated some of our wards for quarantine purposes. To counter that, we try to manage patients on an outpatient basis since we don’t have enough space,” he said.
Husbands said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, depression had become more widespread, although she noted that individuals were seeking help.
“I think there is a need for hospice care for those suffering from depression – a place where they can stay and get help until they can recover from it. I believe this is something that can be pursued as a private-public sector partnership,” she said.
Director of the Psychiatric Hospital David Leacock said what Husbands was referring to was respite care, adding: “We know that there is a market for the private sector to assist with ventures like this, and we have talked about day hospitals to deal with cases like this, but we have not got the resources as yet to put it in place. However, it is something we would like to see in the future.” (DH)
