To ask the Minister of Health what plans he has to ensure greater co-operation and synergy between addiction and mental health services; and for his assessment of the current working relationship between these two services.

I am fully aware that many mental health issues can be more complex and difficult to address where a person also has a dependency on alcohol or drugs, or vice versa. The treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance use problems, frequently called “Dual Diagnosis”, is an issue that was raised prominently during the recent consultation on my Department’s new Substance Use Strategy and on the early development of our new Mental Health Strategy.

Responses highlighted the need to develop a more holistic treatment system to provide patient-centred care structured around the needs of individual service users.

This is why the draft Mental Health Strategy, currently out for public consultation, contains an action to create a Managed Care Network for Dual Diagnosis. This has similarly been highlighted under the priorities section of the draft Substance Use Strategy. The aim being that those with mental health and addiction issues will get the best care and treatment available. It is anticipated that both these strategies will be finalised in the near future, following analysis of the consultation responses.