To ask the Minister of Health to detail any steps his Department is taking to improve mental health services for older people in (i) rural areas; and (ii) coastal areas.

The Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031 launched in June 2021 sets the vision and future strategic direction for mental health services in Northern Ireland over the next decade.

This strategy is for all people of Northern Ireland regardless of their geographical location. Everyone in Northern Ireland is expected to benefit from this strategy as it is a holistic societal approach to mental health and wellbeing with a whole life approach to ownership.

Action 1 of the Mental Health Strategy commits to increase public awareness of the distinction between mental wellbeing, mental ill health and mental illness, encouraging public understanding and acceptance of how life can impact upon mental wellbeing, and recognition of the signs of mental ill health and mental illness.

Action 2 of the Mental health Strategy commits to create an action plan for promoting mental health through early intervention and prevention, with year on year actions covering a whole life approach, reaching from infancy to older age. The action plan must consider groups disproportionally affected by mental ill health who often struggle to access early intervention services and seek to reduce stigma associated with mental ill health.

Action 31 of the strategy is to, “Develop a regional mental health service, operating across the five HSC Trusts, with regional professional leadership that is responsible for consistency in service delivery and development”. This is to be achieved not by changing organisational boundaries but by ensuring there are structures in place to deliver regional consistency, quality and access across Northern Ireland.

Implementing the new regional crisis service is a commitment in the Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031, as set out in Action 27: Create a Regional Mental Health Crisis Service that is fully integrated in mental health services and which will help and support for persons in mental health or suicidal crisis.

Work in this area is progressing as a lifespan approach ensuring an equitable crisis response service in all geographical areas of Northern Ireland.

It is co-produced with significant engagement across a broad range of stakeholders including people with lived experience as service users and as carers. It sets out the structures and arrangements necessary for a Regional Mental Health Service encompassing Trusts’ adult mental health services, primary care and services delivered by community and voluntary sector partners. CAMHS and Mental Health Services for Older People managed care networks will link in as part of the arrangements for a regional mental health service supporting an overall life span approach.

The Strategy is person centred, takes a whole life approach and a whole system focus and the key aim is to ensure long term improved outcomes for people’s mental health.