Next up in the #GE2020 mental health manifesto is Labour
So this will be the shortest so far of my mental health manifesto reviews, why you ask? Because what you see above is the manifesto, all of it.
I have a certain bias towards CAMHS having worked there all my career and as much as more resources are needed in CAMHS there’s a lot more to mental health services in Ireland than just CAMHS. Even within this piece, “CAMHS will be properly staffed”, to what level, what staff? As much as I have issues with other parties quoting A Vision for Change as a benchmark from 14 years ago, Labour doesn’t even bother to make any reference at all to what levels they want to resource CAMHS to. Or what the gaps are, or where, or how.
I would be here all night if I was to list what the gaps are in terms of mental health aspects of this manifesto. There are no funding commitments, or even hints, just generic statements with no concrete details, plans or commitments at all. On a personal level what makes this even more disappointing is myself and a colleague met with a Labour party representative late in 2019 and gave them a series of specific recommendations that would improve mental health in this country. None seem to have been taken on board.
VERDICT
I think this has been a massive own goal by Labour. I’m perplexed how they thought that such a limited mental health aspect of their manifesto would either go unnoticed or how they could justify why it is so limited and so vague. The limitations of it’s content, specificity and content speaks for itself really and doesn’t require much further explanation.
Wandering Minds 