During Mental Health Week, May 7-12,
OPSEU will hold three public forums across the province
on mental health restructuring. OPSEU President, Warren
(Smokey) Thomas will be speaking on the panel in all
three communities.
OPSEU’s message to the government is:
Freeze mental health restructuring and invest in
necessary community resources.
Mental health care restructuring has
focused on downloading mental health services from
hospitals to the community. The government has moved
ahead with this plan without investing in the necessary
resources for the provision of community mental health.
The Liberal spring budget made no mention of investments
in community mental health.
In May 2006, a confidential report
prepared for the Ministry of Health by the Deloitte
consulting group, revealed that two-thirds of the 21
mental health programs profiled in the report had
trouble discharging patients due to a shortage of
supportive housing and specialized treatment programs.
Without adequate resources in place,
communities across the province are dealing with the
fallout of downloading:
• Mental health clients end up in
homeless shelters, jails or low income housing
without supports. The province is facing a shortage
of supportive housing;
• Community mental health faces a
serious labour shortage and retention problem.
Skilled mental health workers whose jobs are
eliminated in hospitals are not finding permanent
employment at competitive wage rates;
• The lack of skilled professionals
in the community affects the quality of care.
Specialized treatment programs are not readily
available.
Support mental health care
professionals and clients in your community - attend the
OPSEU mental health forums.
See flyer for more information.
