Latest news with #PsychosisSurvey2024
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Ireland has only a fifth of specialist teams needed to work with people who have psychosis, doctor says
There are just five specialist teams working with people who have psychosis but the country needs as many as 20 more, according to Dr Karen O'Connor who is national clinical lead for early intervention in psychosis. Dr O'Connor highlighted critical gaps despite progress since a model of care was published in 2019. 'You're ideally wanting to see people within four weeks of onset of the symptoms,' she said. 'We know that in 2016 it was about 20 weeks then.' She said it is now down to six-and-a-half weeks nationally and in Cork it's down to three-and-a-half weeks. "It is really good, but it's just about trying to expand it now.' Data is not collected for counties without teams. 'We need probably another 20 to cover the whole country, we'd like to have about 25 across the whole country so no matter where you were, you'd get access to one of these teams,' she said. 'Now it just depends on where you live whether you can access one or whether you can't. It's good that we're growing, 10 years ago these teams weren't here.' Dr O'Connor, a psychiatrist working in Cork, also said staffing is an issue, especially getting cover for maternity leave absences. Similar frustrations were identified in the Psychosis Survey 2024 published by Shine, the HSE and Mental Health Reform earlier this month. When Daniela Ferro was just 18 she experienced a psychotic episode at home in Germany. In contrast to what she dismisses as the 'Hollywood view' of this condition, she said: 'I felt afraid of the whole world rather than the world being afraid of me.' At the height of her crisis, she said: 'I had lots of audio and visual hallucinations. One of them was when I went into my mother's bedroom, I looked at her and saw a different person.' She described feeling 'so scared', saying she thought: "There was a witch flying by the window and I heard voices in my head.' Having lived in Ireland for 15 years, she advocates for faster access to treatment here. She waited just 24 hours for admission to hospital in Germany. She said: If I hadn't had treatment so quickly, where would I be now? I wonder would I be in a so-called normal life, have a career and a family and all of that? Minister of state for mental health, Mary Butler, said funding was allocated in Budget 2025 for two new teams in Limerick and Dublin. Psychosis affects how the brain processes information so a person might see, hear or believe things that are not real. It can be linked to trauma, illegal drug use - including cannabis - or prolonged sleep-deprivation, among other issues. It often starts in a person's late teens or early 20s but can also affect pregnant women and other groups. Read More Suzanne Crowe: People with severe mental illness will be failed by proposed new law
Irish Examiner
07-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Urgent need to fill gaps in care for those with psychosis, survey finds
More crisis support outside of hospitals for people with psychosis is urgently needed, along with significant expansion of existing supports, a new report has recommended. Psychosis affects how the brain processes information, so a person may find it difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is not. The Psychosis Survey 2024, published on Wednesday, is based on feedback from almost 400 people with this condition and others. Shine CEO Nicola Byrne said investment in early intervention services is growing, but concerns remain. She highlighted a 'postcode lottery' that has left gaps in many areas. Some 42.3% of those who responded said expanding numbers of psychosis teams is their top priority. More funding including money for staffing was also called for by respondents. The report quotes one parent saying: 'When my son was involved in X mental health services, I received a lot of support from local mental health services. They were always helpful and there for me and his family. 'My son then moved to a different mental health service, and I feel this service is totally unsupportive to family members.' Ms Byrne said in regions offering early intervention: 'People have a much better experience, they are much happier and much clearer, they have more understanding of what supports they can get.' The survey found only 14.4% of people using general mental health services had 'easy access to support' compared to 42.9% of people using early intervention in psychosis services. In addition over 70% found media portrayals of psychosis 'inaccurate', and 54% experienced workplace stigma. One person said: 'Almost all forms of media highlight only negative outcomes of those living with psychosis or having violent psychotic episodes which end in harm to others. The mental illness is incredibly stigmatised and rarely are the lack of supports for patients and friends/family highlighted. Shine says public education campaigns including schools are needed. This was ranked as the third most important priority by those answering the survey. 'I think we need to be looking at having better conversations about understanding what mental illness is,' Ms Byrne said. 'Until we have that understanding we will never have parity with physical illness.' Many people said charities help fill the gaps in State services. One person said: "If it wasn't for the support of Shine, I probably would not have been able to cope having a family member with severe psychosis who still after years has not been treated." Minister of State for mental health Mary Butler welcomed improvements seen by people using the early intervention services. 'My department allocated funding in Budget 2025 to set up two new early intervention teams in Dublin and Limerick. A further 24 roles are being funded across the two new teams at a cost of €2.8m,' she said. There are now seven teams. The survey was carried out by Shine, Mental Health Reform, and the HSE National Clinical Programme for Early Intervention in Psychosis. It can be read online from Wednesday.
