Knowing the patients' needs is a step closer to a better service. Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Plans to fill the knowledge gap regarding mental health in Ireland will lead to better services for patients and increased value for money, according to the Mental Health Commission.
The commission has launched a research strategy aimed at promoting more effective planning in the mental health sector and supporting the development of more innovative services which respond to patients' needs.
"We know that mental health is an important and growing mental health issue. We don't know as much as we should about how to provide the best mental health services we can for service users," says Dr Fiona Keogh, research consultant to the Mental Health Commission.
"The goal is to promote a mental health research community that is dynamic, productive and innovative, producing high quality research that is responsive to service needs," she says.
She says the launch of the research strategy marks the beginning of a process to tackle this knowledge gap and improve and support innovation in our mental health services.
Research has already started on a number of areas, such as the pathways to involuntary admission to psychiatric hospitals, a study of community residences or hostels and a study of the economics of mental health services.
Future research will touch on areas which include all those involved in mental health services, treatment and care, the commission says.
The focus on filling the existing information gap will be used to help identify, for example, the best way to deliver community-based mental health services.
It will also focus on how to provide for young people with schizophrenia, innovative alternatives to inpatient care and bed numbers for the population.
The strategy outlines four actions aimed at improving the capacity of research in the mental health sector:
Improving the infrastructure and funding for mental health research, such as providing funding for research fellowships.
Establishing systems for recording and disseminating research and knowledge on best practice in the mental health services, such as setting up a new Irish Mental Health Research Network and Database.
Creating links in mental health research by encouraging and supporting the establishment of mental health research centres.
Setting the mental health research agenda through a new mental health research committee.
While funding for health research has increased significantly in the past few years, mental health is in competition with all other specialities.
The research strategy notes that studies in the area have, to date, had limited impact on services and tended not to be disseminated widely.
It also says researchers working in the area have often felt isolated, with little support and hampered by poor infrastructure.
It says there has been a distinct lack of central direction in research which has been conducted.
Bríd Clarke, chief executive of the commission, says the report will help promote alliances between academic centres, institutions and mental health services.
"It is widely acknowledged that high quality research enhances strategic planning and service delivery," she says.