Irish Medical Organisation

Lobbying Organisation Irish Medical Organisation

Date published 20 Jan, 2021

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Health

Period 1 Sep, 2020 to 31 Dec, 2020

Specific Details Meeting with the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Mental health on the impact of Covid 19 on access and continuity of mental health care at acute and specialist level (in-patient)

Intended results Urgent implementation of measures to address the recruitment and retention of Consultants across our health system – this includes addressing the two-tier consultant pay issue which is recognised as a major barrier to recruitment Fully resource community and hospital based mental health care teams in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change Urgently assess the number of acute inpatient psychiatric beds required to ensure timely admission of patients presenting with acute psychiatric illness Address the governance model to ensure inpatient psychiatric units have access to necessary services on site Appropriately integrate mental health care services into the wider health system • Roll out the national patient identifier and the electronic shared care record as per the 2019 GP Agreement.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Vanessa Hetherington,

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Virtual Meeting (1)

Virtual meeting with the Sub-Committee on Mental Health - 17th December 2020

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Colm Burke TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Neasa Hourigan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

John Lahart TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Gino Kenny TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Mark Ward TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Frances Black Senator (Seanad)

Martin Conway Senator (Seanad)

Annie Hoey Senator (Seanad)