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PRESS RELEASE

08-11-06

For the first time ever the views of Irish people across an entire London borough are to be sought by a statutory health body. The Federation of Irish Societies, in partnership with Islington Primary Care Trust and Islington Adult Social Services, are to distribute questionnaires and hold focus groups across north London to find out the opinions and needs of the Irish community on mental health, and gauge what services they use and would like to see.

Conor McGinn, Health Development Officer at the Federation of Irish Societies, said, "We are delighted to be working with Islington PCT and Islington Adult Social Services on this important initiative. Time and time again statistics show that Irish people in Britain have amongst the worst mental health of any ethnic minority community, and it is vital that we begin to address the key issues in this regard. The Federation of Irish Societies raises these matters with the Department of Health and its agencies on a regular basis and we will continue to work hard in lobbying the UK government for adequate health provision for our community."

Bianca Kokkolas, Strategy and Commissioning Manager for Mental Health, Islington PCT and Social Services, said , "As part of the work Islington is undertaking to fulfil the requirements of the national agenda for 'Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in Mental Health Care', we have developed a five-year action-plan to deliver DRE priorities. We intend to make our services more appropriate and responsive by developing organisations so that they offer high quality, non-discriminatory and recovery-oriented healthcare. We will engage communities by improving partnership work between communities, statutory services and established voluntary sector agencies to ensure that black and minority ethnic (BME) communities are effectively involved in planning, designing, commissioning and delivering services. We will also provide better information by improving the monitoring of ethnicity and mental health service use. Islington has been working in partnership with the Irish Community on this important project as we are committed to ensuring that we provide the best services possible for our residents."

Several Irish organisations, including the London Irish Centre at Camden, ICAP and the London Irish Women's Centre have been involved in composing the questionnaire and will help distribute it across the community.

Gary Fereday, Chief Executive of icap, one of the organisations involved in the project from the outset, said, "Our psychotherapy service based in Islington has catered for over 2000 Irish clients across the UK since 1996. The mental health and well-being of the Irish community needs to be considered by decision-makers in statutory health organisations, and I hope this survey is acted on in that regard."

Deepika Ratnaike, Senior Public Health Strategist, Islington PCT and Social Services, said, "We would like to promote good mental health as well as prevent the debilitating aspects of mental illness by encouraging people to seek appropriate help at an earlier stage. Part of this is learning more about how people think about their mental health and identifying opportunities for the PCT to work with the Irish community. This will be a key outcome of this project."

ENDS