Transfer of ECT to Mount Carmel ‘reverses time-machine’, says Richmond

Mental health charity Richmond Foundation has flagged a series of concerns over the national health policy, specifically over the transfer of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to the Mount Carmel Hospital.

Over the years, Richmond Foundation has been calling for a clear and well-coordinated national mental health strategy so that decisions in this field reach targeted milestones.

But the foundation said it was concerned that ECT provision for persons with mental health problems had been transferred to Mt. Carmel mental health hospital.

"Although Mt Carmel is a specialised hospital in the field, most patients who go to Psychiatric Outpatients, Mater Dei Hospital, will now be requested to go to another hospital, of which they are not official patients, to undergo such a procedure. Whether we like it or not, Mt Carmel is still feared by many and these persons are likely to refuse or discontinue this essential treatment to avoid going to Mt Carmel Hospital," Richmond Foundation's operations manager Holger Saliba said.

ECT is proven to be a very effective in treating depression when other psychiatric treatment is ineffective.

Saliba said this decision reversed recent strategic decisions where psychiatric services had been mainstreamed by being provided at health centres and other community outlets.

"The provision of ECT should have followed suit; this would have been consonant with the aim of moving towards enhanced and comprehensive community-based mental health services," Saliba said.

"Shifting services, which are ideally provided in the community, back to hospitals or institutions simply reverses the time-machine. This decision even goes against the spirit of the New Mental Health Act which stipulates that treatment at hospitals should be the last resort."

Saliba said the Richmond Foundation was urging the authorities to revise the decision. "Mental health services should not be regarded as the Cinderella of health.  The  lack of a clear strategy is likely to lead to management by crisis and short-sighted decisions... Richmond Foundation is committed to lobby for more humane and community mental health services as it has always done since its inception, more than twenty years ago."