Department of Social Development draft budget 2011 – 2015
Response by Bamford Monitoring Group
1.0About the Patient and Client Council
The Patient and Client Council provide a powerful, independent voice for people on health and social care issues. The Patient and Client Council has four main duties, they are to:
- Listen and act on people’s views;
- Encourage people to get involved;
- Help people make a complaint; and,
- Promote advice and information.
2.0The Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability
In 2002 the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) carried out an independent review of mental health and learning disability law, policy and service provision. It was called the Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability, now simply known as the ‘Bamford Review’.
The review produced a series of 10 reports between June 2005 and August 2007 which made over 700 recommendations to improve mental health and learning disability services. It represented a vision for reform and modernisation of mental health and learning disability services in Northern Ireland.
The DHSSPS published its response to the Bamford Review, with the report entitled ‘Delivering the Bamford Vision’[1] in October 2009. This sets out the specific actions that Government Departments and their agencies are committed to take during the period 2009 – 2011 to improve mental health and learning disability services in line with the Bamford Review recommendations.
3.0The Bamford Monitoring Group
In 2009, the Bamford Monitoring Group was established by the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety. It is made up of people with mental health needs, learning disabilities, families and carers as well as representatives of the Patient and Client Council.
The purpose of the Bamford Monitoring Group is to capture the views and experiences of people with mental health needs, learning disabilities, families and carers about the changes being made to mental health and learning disability services in line with the Bamford Review.
Our role is to ask people who use mental health and learning disability services, families, carers and communities whether these changes are making a positive difference to them. We aim to make sure that the voice of people who have mental health needs, learning disabilities, families and carers is heard and acted upon.
For further information about the Bamford Monitoring Group please visit the Patient and Client Council website
There you will find details about the group, members, and our annual report ‘The Bamford Monitoring Group… Our journey so far’ (August 2010).
4.0Bamford Monitoring Group Response to Draft Budget 2011 – 2015:
The Bamford Monitoring Group strongly supports the Department of Social Development decision to allocate specific funding to Bamford in both the capital and revenue budgets.
We particularly welcome the Minister’s commitment that there must be no reduction in vital programmes which target the most vulnerable, including supported housing (supporting people), and new build housing. This protection for vulnerable groups and frontline functions is essential to reduce the disproportionate and adverse consequences of the Department’s spending plans.
The Bamford Monitoring Group strongly urges the Minister for Social Development, andthe Northern Ireland Executive as a whole, to both ring-fence the currentprovision for people with mental health needs and learning disabilitiesand provide sufficient additional funding to enable all the recommendations contained in the Bamford Reviewof Mental Health and Learning Disability to be implemented within the agreed timeframe.
It is also important to highlight concern that spending plans have been developed individually by each Government department. This loses sight of the ethos under which the Bamford Review and its recommendations for improvement were made. Realising the Bamford Vision requires integrated working across Government departments, something which spending plans developed in isolation from one another fail to recognise.
5.0General Comments
The Bamford Monitoring Group are concerned that the consultation paper does not provide any meaningful detail on how the Department of Social Development intends to allocate the proposed budget. This makes it extremely difficult for the group to provide constructive comments regarding the likely impact of the proposals. We know from the wider consultation carried out by the Patient Client Council that members of the public have found it extremely difficult if not impossible to respond in a meaningful way to the draft budget consultations.
The Patient and Client Council therefore endorses the Bamford Monitoring Group to call upon the Department of Social Development:
- to ensure that its spending plans are delivered to support the full implementation of the Bamford Vision; and
- to publish its plan for meaningful engagement with patients, service users, carers and communities on the impact of it’s spending plans on implementation of the Bamford Vision.
END
[1] Delivering the Bamford Vision – The Response ofNorthern Ireland Executive tothe Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability. Action Plan 2009 – 2011 (October 2009)