AQW 50157/22-27
Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry
Tabled Date: 01/07/2026
Answered On Date: 20/07/2026
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department has given any consideration to the recommendations contained in the Mental Health Champion's June 2026 report, The Economic Case for a Mental Health Regional Crisis Intervention Service in Northern Ireland, including any steps taken in response.
Answer:
Implementing the new Regional Mental Health Crisis Service is a commitment in the Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031, under Actions 12 and 27. My Departmental officials and the Public Health Agency are working in partnership to deliver on both of these actions to develop a Regional Mental Health Crisis Service for all citizens of Northern Ireland. The Department’s Review of Deliverability of the Mental Health Strategy, published in October 2025, reaffirmed the need for the full Strategy but identified a narrower focus on key priorities due to ongoing financial constraints. For 2026/27, these priorities are a regionally consistent Mental Health Crisis Service and the Mental Health Workforce. Work is currently underway to develop a business case for a Community Crisis Service aimed at providing timely, short-term support to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis who do not meet the threshold for secondary care mental health services. The proposed model has been informed by a regional scoping exercise and is being developed in line with national and international evidence-based best practice. The Community Crisis service is intended to strengthen early intervention and prevention, reduce the risk of escalation to more acute services, and support individuals to remain safely within their communities while accessing appropriate care and support. The Mental Health Champion’s report, The Economic Case for a Mental Health Regional Crisis Intervention Service in Northern Ireland (published 24th June 2026), will be given careful consideration as part of the ongoing development of the Community Crisis Service business case. Action 17 of the Mental Health Strategy commits to fully integrating the community and voluntary sector across mental health service provision. It envisions the sector as a true partner in planning, developing, and delivering services to improve outcomes. In January 2026 the Department published an independent review of the sector’s scope, scale, and capacity, to identify how best the C&V sector can be fully integrated in the development and delivery of mental health services. The review report sets out how best to support this integration. A Task and Finish Group has now been established, bringing together statutory and community and voluntary partners to progress the better integration of the sector in mental health service delivery, and to seek out innovation and best practice. I can confirm My Departmental officials and the Public Health Agency met in May 2025 with NHS Scotland colleagues in relation to Scotland's Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme. There has been subsequent communication regarding the programme, enabling officials to further consider the learning from its development and implementation and its potential relevance to the development of the Regional Mental Health Crisis Service for Northern Ireland. In order to develop and roll out the Regional Mental Health Crisis Service including the Community Crisis Service, additional funding will be required. My officials within the Department are working in partnership to prioritise areas for next steps. This will include standardisation of services and levelling up and roll out of service areas across the region, to ensure a more equitable provision to those in need across the lifespan. In line with the usual process for commissioning of services, any decision to commission mental health crisis services in the future will be based on an assessment of the level of demand for services, and will take place within the context of future budget availability.
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