This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and, to mark the occasion, the Minister for Health and Care, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, has committed to tabling the Mental Health Board Report for 2023 at the next meeting of the Gibraltar Parliament.
In order to allow for a meaningful and appropriate debate on the subject of Mental Health, and on the content of the report, the Minister for Health and Care will also be moving a Motion at the next meeting of Parliament. Government explains that this goes further than what the Minister is required to do under statute, which is simply to table the report in Parliament, and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to prioritising Mental Health issues in Gibraltar.
Marking the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, the Minister for Health and Care, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez said: “Mental Health is a hugely important topic which I am committed to making a priority. It is clear to me that we now live in a Gibraltar where suffering with issues of mental health is not taboo and where speaking out is accepted. This is, undoubtedly, in very large measure, thanks to the great work being undertaken by the many charities we have in Gibraltar who work flat out throughout the year to improve the lives of those living with issues of mental health and their families.
“The Government has recognised the importance of mental health and has increased the quality of its service provision significantly. This was recognised by the Mental Health Board in their report, which although critical in some areas, is generally positive and, in my view, the most positive report we have had to date. I fully accept and recognise the need to further improve mental health provision and, for this reason, I look forward to tabling the report in Parliament at the next meeting and to debating it through a motion I will be presenting. This is the right thing to do if we want to show that we are genuinely committed to improving our mental health service provision locally.
“For some months now I have been working on the relocation of the new Community Mental Health Team currently based at Coaling Island. This is something we are totally committed to doing and I am pleased to report that we have now identified a suitable building in the heart of town. This will mean that the CMHT will NOT be relocated to the PCC or to St Bernard’s Hospital. Although I would have loved to have announced the location today, we still have a few loose ends to finalise and I hope to be able to make this exciting and significant announcement very soon.”
