Amnesty Report: An estimated 75 per cent of homeless people have mental health problems, according to an Amnesty International report to be published today.Up to a third of homeless people need professional intervention, but are generally not getting it, the report entitled "Mental Illness - The Neglected Quarter, Homelessness" revealed.
The human rights organisation will accuse the Government of failing to meet the human rights of the mentally ill homeless.
"The minimalist, piecemeal and unintegrated manner of the central planning and delivery of homeless services to date has resulted in a seriously inadequate and under-evolved mental health care regime for this vulnerable population," says the report. This, it says, "is a serious human rights issue".
Over 30 national organisations, including homelessness charities the Simon Communities and Focus Ireland, and mental health support organisations AWARE and Schizophrenia Ireland have endorsed the report, written by Dr Joe Fernandez, Director of the Programme for the Homeless at St Brendan's Hospital in Dublin.
Specialist mental health services for the homeless are "generally unavailable", says the report.
In Dublin, where an estimated 75 per cent of homeless live, there is one specialist service, operating from St Brendan's. It is the only such service in the State. A day centre operates at Usher's Island on the quays.
"The pressure on the programme at St Brendan's is enormous" and it is "poorly resourced" with 16 in-patient acute beds "completely blocked by long-stay patients," said Dr Fernandez.
People are becoming homeless for multiple reasons. Among them are release from prison and discharge from State care, with no arranged accommodation.
"Many long term homeless mentally ill are forced to resort to emergency social accommodation," he said. For them, "remaining homeless is a decision mediated not by 'personal choices' but by a lack of statutory responses to their need."
It says follow-up for homeless people after discharge from in-patient psychiatric care is "often neglected".
The report is particularly critical of the inflexibility of mainstream mental health services which effectively exclude homeless people. Because the services are sectorised according to catchment areas, a homeless person must attend where they last had an address, "effectively leaving many without a service".
Furthermore, "staff are generally not trained to meet and understand the special needs and requirements of some homeless people".
The lack of all these services - particularly acute at night and weekends - means many, when in crisis, "may not be detected by the mental health system at all but may become caught up in the criminal justice system instead".
On Government planning in the area it says there has been a "real lack of progress since the National Health Strategy was launched in 2001" and quotes the Irish College of Psychiatrists who said there had been "no provision for full multi-disciplinary teams" especially for the homeless, "which are vital".
The report says the Government must take 14 actions including:
o Undertaking a needs-based consultative review of the services, with particular emphasis on the needs of the homeless.
o Adaption and resourcing of catchment area services, as well as the training of staff, to meet the needs of the homeless.
o Giving particular attention to the mental health services available to homeless children, and those leaving State residential care.
o Development of integrated mental health programmes for homeless people with dual diagnosis of mental illness and alcohol/substance misuse.
