Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0  Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1    The purpose of this report is to bring to the Committee’s attention the Notice of Motion regarding Mental Health and Addiction Support Services considered by the Council at its meeting on 2nd May and to outline a proposed course of action to address the motion.

2.0    Recommendations

2.1    The Committee is asked to:

·        Note the content of the report

·        Consider the arrangements for a strategic discussion event between the Council and its partners in the statutory, community and voluntary sectors. If agreed, this event will take place towards the end of September and the Council will host it in conjunction with Belfast Strategic Partnership.

3.0    Main report

3.1    Key Issues

The Notice of Motion regarding Mental Health and Addiction Support Services, moved by Councillor O’Hara and seconded by Councillor McCabe, centred on the need for a city wide response to support communities in dealing with these issues in line with the commitment the Council has given, through the Belfast Agenda, to design and deliver an integrated programme to tackle health inequalities.

3.2    Through the Notice of Motion concern was expressed regarding the availability of joined up services designed to treat the complex issues of addiction, the misuse of drugs and alcohol, self-harm, suicidal tendencies, depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. The Notice of Motion proposed a review of the level of provision of existing services and a strategic discussion on a more integrated and coordinated approach to delivering addiction and mental health services in Belfast.

3.3    At a major three day event held in Belfast last September the link between the misuse of alcohol and drugs and emotional distress and mental disorders was identified as a significant concern for the city. The event, organised by the Public Health Agency and Belfast Strategic Partnership used a ‘future search’ process to enable key organisations from all sectors across the city to identify the common ground they could commit to in terms of authority and resources to tackle the issue of suicide in Belfast.

3.4    There were eleven priorities identified that were considered by all participants to represent the best opportunity for preventing deaths by suicide in Belfast, a copy of the final report is attached at appendix 1, ‘Building Hope – Working Together to Prevent Suicide’. One of these areas was a commitment to working better together across mental health, suicide prevention and drugs and alcohol to jointly plan, jointly resource and jointly deliver services that meet the needs of people in a timely and relevant manner. This involved a commitment to resourcing co-morbidity treatment services for people with co-concurring mental health, suicide prevention and drugs and alcohol needs.

3.5    A programme of work has been developed for this year to begin the implementation of the recommendations from the Building Hope event. This work is being overseen by the Belfast Protect Life Implementation Group and a number of work-streams are particularly relevant to the issues identified in the Notice of Motion. In particular:

§  The design of a new emotional resilience strategy and action plan for Belfast is underway.

§  A project team has been established to design an ‘Integrated Crisis Response Service’ and ‘Street Triage Mental Health Pathway’ for the city. It has representatives from the health sector, General Practitioners, PSNI, the NI Ambulance Service, the Belfast Alliance for Suicide Prevention (representing the community and voluntary sectors) and Belfast City Council. This is a significant and complex project that will require joint working between all sectors, creative thinking and collaborative resourcing. Outline proposals have been drafted and issues to do with clinical governance, data management, funding and logistics for pilot services are being considered. Belfast City Council’s Safer City Manager is also considering the community safety links with this project.

§  There are other pieces of work due to be presented at an event on 27th June. These include the launch of the new Take5 Steps to Emotional Wellbeing Took Kit and the presentation of the findings of the second Have Your Say Belfast Survey, which took place last year and which was completed by over 4934 people in Belfast. The use of the Take5 Tool Kit and the survey findings will be influential in the above mentioned projects and in other work to improve mental health and emotional resilience in the city.

3.6    The report to the August Committee will outline how the formative work mentioned above has progressed and how the strategic discussion event in September could assist in moving it forward in the context of tackling health inequalities under the Belfast Agenda. It will also support discussions on potential gaps and identify what further action is required.

3.7    Financial & Resource Implications

The Council’s contribution to this work is being undertaken within existing budgets and there are no additional financial or resource implications at this stage.

3.8    Equality or Good Relations Implications

Much of this work cuts across communities and sectors and is part of the work to tackle health inequalities and social wellbeing issues in the city.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.