Following last weeks session of parliament, the GMWS has urged the Government to act on the "49 recommendations from the Audit which have still not been implemented".

A statement from the GMWS follows below:

The GMWS welcomes the question and answer session in Parliament in relation to mental health, on the 19th October.

We would like to focus on three of the points covered:

- Lack of talking therapies. In response to questions from the Opposition, Minister Isola said that there were currently 1, 846 people taking “ some form of medication”. Minister Azzopardi wondered why this latest figure was so different from the one published in 2020, which said that there were 3,974 people taking medication because of poor mental health. The GMWS also wonders how the huge reduction in numbers has come about. Moreover, the fact that only 139 people are getting some kind of therapy is also of great concern. It is a fact acknowledged by mental health professionals that  best practice for service users will involve a combination of both medication and therapy, as and when the need arises. This is clearly not happening in Gibraltar, where people often have to struggle to get the help they require.

- The shortage of beds in assisted living. The GMWS was surprised at Minister Isola's response to the Shadow Minister for Health, Elliott Phillips, on this subject. Minister Isola said that since the Care Agency was not “pressuring” him for more beds in assisted living, that it must mean that they were not needed, implying that all the Agency needs to do is ask for these beds.The GMWS has been told by several professionals in the mental health system that many more beds are needed in assisted living,. This is one of the reasons why we very recently re-launched our campaign on this. The other reason is that we know of several servcie users who live on their own without adequate support.  

 Moreover, given the fact that that care agency workers often ask charities, unofficially, for material help for their service users, it is unlikely that they would consider asking for more beds in assisted living, when far more minor costs are not met, e.g.  when furnishing the homes of service users discharged from Ocean Views, and going to live on their own. These homes are often furnished with the help of a number of local charities. 

The fact that the two homes, currently offering 7 beds in assisted living, are privately owned is also a significant factor in the equation.

The GMWS believes that the Government itself should invest in purpose built accommodation for people with serious, chronic mental health conditions, who cannot cope well on their own.

- Questions on the numbers of deaths by suicide in the last 11 years were also answered. The 20 deaths were all of males.

The 2019 Audit pointed out that there was no “national policy or plan for suicide prevention” in Gibraltar and recommended that “ the Ministry for Healthshould undertake a suicide audit and, if appropriate develop a a suicide prevention strategy with a technical group of relevant stakeholders” 

From Minister Isola's response to questions on this matter, it would appear that neither of these recommendations have been implemented. 

The GMWS urges the Government to act on these matters and on any of the 49 recommendations from the Audit which have still not been implemented.