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COMMUNICATION FROM MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
GIVEN THE CURRENT SITUATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN CATALONIA

 

Barcelona, October 10, 2011 – World Mental Health Day

The undersigned, representatives of professional entities with an impact in the field of mental health in Catalonia, consider that the fundamental resource of healthcare, and in particular of mental health care, are the professionals who provide this service and that their participation is key in the construction, maintenance, and reform of the Catalan healthcare model.

Worried about the consequences of the healthcare budget reduction, we issue the following
community

    • Through the Mental Health and Addictions Master Plan and the Comprehensive Plan for People
      with mental disorders, developed with a wide representation of professionals and others
      representatives of the sector (families, users, provider entities, ...), the health network
      mental with addictions has reached a good, comparable level of quality and that not
      can lose.

 

    • The mental health network with a volume of 5.7% in relation to the total expenditure
      healthcare, it is understaffed to meet the growing care needs of these
      pathologies recognized at the Helsinki Conference by European states. We believe that
      Mental health and addiction networks must have affirmative action in the overall
      healthcare system. The European Pact “Implementation of the European Pact for Mental Health
      and Well-being, August 2011” reminds us that there can be no health without mental health.

 

    • Consider that the indiscriminate cuts occurring are inappropriate and could be counterproductive as they may induce increased spending in the medium term and generate serious harmful effects in the short and long term.

 

  • Often, the procedures adopted are based too heavily on economic criteria and lack
    sufficiently taking into account clinical and care planning criteria. This fact, despite
    the efforts of professionals, it is beginning to have serious consequences and from which
    We want to highlight:

    • Loss of quality of care.
    • Decreased time available for patient care.
    • Medicalization of conflict resolution, especially for children and youth, to the detriment of psychosocial work.
    • Increase in work absences among patients and families.
    • Increase in emergencies and hospital admission requests.
    • Favoring the chronification of disorders and that “minor pathologies” be progressively excluded from care.
    • Loss of important mental health prevention work, especially regarding the child and youth population.
    • Increase in the user's dependency situation due to a decrease in the promotion and education of their autonomy.
    • Increased suffering and burden for patients and families.
    • Breaking of the internal cohesion of teams and their functioning.
    • Difficulties of networked work and continuity of care.
    • Oversaturation of professionals, demotivation, and difficulty returning once they
      overcome the current situation.

 

For these and other reasons:

      1. We reiterate our disagreement with the indiscriminate cuts that are being carried out in
        the scope of Mental Health and therefore, we ask that they be reviewed based on what has been said
        previously considering criteria for sustainability, equity, and efficiency.

     

      1. As professionals, we ask to be able to actively and co-responsibly participate in the discussion and development of policies and programs that affect our field of mental health.

     

      1. We request an interview with the Honorable Minister of Health, Mr. Boi Ruiz, in order to discuss the previously mentioned points and to obtain information from the Department regarding the consequences of the cuts on healthcare, the employment situation of workers, and any other information they can provide us.

     

 

Signed this statement:

Josep Clusa
President of the Catalan Congress of Mental Health Foundation

Francisco Villegas
President Catalan Association of Mental Health Professionals – AEN CAT

Núria Carrera
Official College of Social Work of Catalonia

Montserrat Teixidor
Governing Council of the Colleges of Nurses of Catalonia

Josep Vilajoana
Dean of the Official College of Psychologists of Catalonia

Fernando Vizcarro
President of the Council of Medical Colleges of Catalonia

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