Together Gibraltar has today urged the Government to take “swift action” following the publication of the Mental Health report.

A party statement continued: “The party would like to highlight that the delay in publishing this report is simply not acceptable. These reports are designed to present a picture - albeit a not very detailed one - of a particular moment in time. It’s been close to two years since the study took place, and this means that the context that was studied at the time has now changed dramatically. Some of the issues highlighted have been resolved (i.e. a CEO has been appointed and the acute crisis team has been picked), and most importantly the social context regarding mental health has suffered the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. We hope that the report has been put to good use in the year leading up to its publication, but we urge government to be more forthcoming with these reports in the future. This will help communicate the message that the improvement of our mental health is ultimately a job that requires the participation of society as a whole. We would also like to bring attention to a puzzling number of grammatical and spelling mistakes in the document, as well as misrepresentations of fact (such as the statement that benzodiazepines can be bought in Spain over the counter) which somehow remain in the document over a year after its completion.

“The report drafted by PHE highlights several different failings in the system, but these can be briefly summarised as follows: There have been some advances in the provision of mental health services in Gibraltar, but many of these have been an exercise of ‘window dressing’. This highlights a very common practice in Gibraltar public management; to create bodies and frameworks emulating functioning systems from elsewhere (usually the UK), and then not providing them with the adequate resources to function properly. The report highlights things like the lack of an overarching plan, lack of assessable data, lack of details regarding funding, established boards without resources, lack of coherent leadership, a need to integrate complementary services that work disjointedly, unclear patient pathways and lack of coordination and communication between departments and stakeholders.

Party Leader, Marlene Hassan Nahon said: “Many issues highlighted in this report are ones that I have been living first hand since the beginning of my involvement in politics; constituents who have been cared for by the mental health system at some stage or another of their condition who, once their treatment is over are left alone and confused, without proper follow up or pathways to continue their recovery or manage their circumstances long term. This is the visible manifestation of a system that, without long-term, coherent, multidisciplinary support, is largely dysfunctional. Despite some investment and advances highlighted in the document, our mental health provision needs a complete overhaul that guarantees patients are given adequate treatment, that the development of their condition is closely monitored and that their evolving needs are properly met. In terms of prevention, it highlights that the system also needs to start having a strong presence among younger segments of the population, in schools, NGO’s, community organisations and society as a whole. We would also like to highlight the need to amass data - a common failing of our system - regarding mental health, in order to be able to reform the system in a targeted and informed way. Until this is done, we will continue to devise policy on the whim of politicians alone - policies whose results we will not be able to evaluate objectively.

“Unfortunately, this report does not provide new and ground breaking insights into the system. In fact, it highlights issues that had been raised many times in the past by stakeholders, patients and their families, and local NGO’s. However, we believe these findings accurately reflect the failings and urgent needs of our system, and hope they will have the necessary impact to bring about the recommended changes as a matter of urgency.

“We would urge the Ministry of Health to provide the community with a detailed plan of action to make good these highlighted recommendations as a matter of extreme priority.”