The GSD says that the “fanfare” with which the Government announced the relocation of the Community Mental Health Facility in July to the old Chronicle printing works “starkly contrasts with its equivocal recent statement” about its plans just a few months later. 

A statement continued: “Having promoted the July announcement to the former Chronicle printing works it has now issued a statement committed to a relocation to a “new state of the art facility” which is “..regardless of its location.” The Minister has added that she will give “...further details of the project in coming months.” So is the project at the old printing works no longer happening? 

“All this demonstrates a directionless Government that is making decisions without properly considering their implications or insufficiently consulting officials or the public. This has happened before with the embarrassing pre- election climb-down that the GSLP/Libs were forced to make after the backlash they faced when they promised to relocate this facility to St Bernard’s Hospital. There are also question marks about the appropriateness of the site in town announced in July which would not be the GSD’s preferred site for the facility.” 

Shadow Minister for Health, Joelle Ladislaus said: “It has become second nature to this Government to make precipitated announcements of the nature of the relocation of the Community Mental Health Facility without first having properly consulted with experts. It did so in 2023 in its election manifesto. When it makes such promises to the public in that context, following years of cries for improvements in this area and then either makes a graceless climb down or goes into hibernation on the “mental health revolution” that they promised with this new relocation to the city centre a few months later, it doesn’t inspire any confidence that much needed improvements to mental health services will materialise or that they really have a strategy to get the job done as they promised. The Opposition shares the concerns of NGOs with the way the relocation project is being approached, and the persistent issues that service users are experiencing in accessing mental health services.

“When service users are faced with mental health issues, the last thing that they need is uncertainty surrounding the service that will be available to them and a fear that there will continue to be deficiencies in such services. The GSD therefore calls for an urgent announcement to be made by the Government outlining its current plans for the relocation of the Community Mental Health Facility from Coaling Island.”