Whilst talk is cheap and action speaks louder than words at least there is much talk now about the mental health problem we have here in the Cayman Islands.

Not so long ago we didn’t even talk about it. Well successive governments didn’t.

I well remember the announcement of a health conference here in the Cayman Islands and mental health for the very first time was to be highlighted. The Health Minister at that time made no mention of mental health but lauded the discussion that was to take place on child obesity. Not that I am saying for one moment that child obesity is not a problem. My point is ‘mental health’ are two words we didn’t say.

One of the stories in yesterday’s iNews (May13) had the headline “Cayman Islands announces implementation of mental health recommendations”.

Actually the headline is a little bit misleading as the article sent to us by government didn’t actually say when any implementation was to take place.

Instead the “Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Mental Health Commission is set to start work imminently on developing a Mental Health Policy”.

Government have “acknowledged there is no community or ward-based mental health nurses who specialise in the mental health care of children and adolescents”.
This need will be addressed in the Mental Health Policy!

The Government has recognised the need for long-term residential mental health facility. So? “The Ministry of Health is about to convene the Steering Committee to develop the first Long Term residential Mental Health Facility (LTRMHF) for the Cayman Islands.” Aha. A Steering Committee! “The Government has approved the funding necessary during fiscal year 2015/16 to develop the request for proposal for the creation of the outline business case (OBC) in order to embark on the first stages of developing the facility.” To develop a request? And this is just for the creation of the outline business case!

“It is acknowledged that additional mental health professionals are required in the outpatient facilities particularly for treating children and adolescents. This will be addressed with the development of the Mental Health Policy”.

“The Government is cognizant of the fact that it has not to-date published any report covering mental health data. The Government also acknowledges that there is no formally defined list of individual data items that ought to be collected by all mental health facilities. The matter of data collection and reporting will be addressed with the development of the Mental Health Policy.”

So how long is all this addressing going to take before anything actually is built?

Surely the first priority is to do something now whilst all this addressing is taking place?

The only real concrete thing I learnt was all the back slapping and praising going on for all the many participants who took time out to address the problem in the first place.

“The Ministry of Health wishes to note its appreciation to the following persons” blah blah.

“The Ministry is reassured by the comprehensive and technical nature of the WHO-AIMS report” blah blah.

“The completion of this study would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Ministry of Health, Cayman Islands National Insurance Company (CINICO), the Ministry of Education, the Department of Counselling Services, the Department of Children and Family Services, and the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority (HSA).”

And this gem:

“While it is testament to the work of the Ministry of Health, the MHC, HSA and the other stakeholders in the provision of mental health services, that there are significantly more strengths (as noted on p 26 of the WHO-AIMS Report) than weaknesses within the mental health system in the Cayman Islands.”

WE DON’T HAVE A LONG-TERM RESIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY!!

THE 8 BED INPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC UNIT WE HAVE IS LIMITED AND DOES NOT MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS!!

THERE IS NO COMMUNITY OR WARD-BASED MENTAL HEALTH NURSES WHO SPECIALISE IN THE MENTAL HEALTH CARE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS!

ADDITIONAL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ARE REQUIRED IN THE OUTPATIENT FACILITIES!

All this would suggest we don’t have a problem NOW!

We have mental health patients serving time in our prisons NOW!

It is so very easy to fob a problem off with the promise “it is being addressed”. Even after it is “addressed” we then have to have another committee to look at what has been addressed whenever it has finally been addressed. By that time I might be in the ‘loony bin’!!