The Governing Council held this Monday approved the Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands, which contemplates the creation of a day hospital for adults in Lanzarote, according to the regional Executive. The document, as noted, is the result of the collaborative and coordinated work of 22 multidisciplinary and inter-institutional working groups, in which more than a hundred people have participated, including patients, family members and professionals from the fields of Mental Health, Primary Care, Public Health, Drug Addiction, General Directorate of Minors, Dependency, Women's Institute and the Ministries of Employment and Education.
This text, "in whose elaboration process the seven patient associations in the field of mental health of the Canary Islands were invited to participate, has as its main objective the psychosocial rehabilitation and the search for eradication of stigma, as well as the coordination between Mental Health and the socio-health field to improve the care of these patients", according to the Canarian Government.
In addition, the Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands seeks to set the guidelines to follow during the next five years in the archipelago, "so the greatest consensus has been sought both in the scientific and care fields, always counting on the perspective of users and their families, axes of the Canarian public health system", adds the Executive.
A financial file of 15.3 million euros
The Mental Health Plan of the SCS has a financial file of 15,339,398 euros, which affects three basic aspects: care for the population with severe mental disorders; care for the child and youth population, and the improvement of the provision of resources and personnel of mental health devices. According to the financial file, of the 15.3 million, a total of 4,249,398 will be allocated to new staff hires - specialists in psychiatry, clinical psychology, nursing, etc. - and 11,090,000 for infrastructure and equipment on all the islands.
Thus, according to the Government of the Canary Islands, day hospitals for adults will be created in Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote, medium-stay units in Fuerteventura and La Palma, hospital admission units for children under 18 years of age in Gran Canaria and Tenerife and child and youth mental health units in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. In this sense, it is pointed out that the Vecindario Mental Health Unit is just being launched and that the facilities of the occupational workshops of the University Hospital of the Canary Islands in Tenerife have been completed. In addition, the work of the Child and Youth Mental Health Unit of the capital of Gran Canaria has been completed.
The Plan contemplates the hiring of 106 professionals, of which 12 are already being incorporated (a specialist in Psychiatry, two in Clinical Psychology, two in nursing, four nursing assistants, an occupational therapist and two administrative assistants).
Twelve Strategic Lines
The Mental Health Plan of the Canary Islands is structured in 12 strategic lines and that, given its relevance and magnitude, are divided into several sub-lines that cover a total of 22 areas, each of them addressed in each of the 22 working groups.
Thus, the Plan includes the two priority lines that had already been established in the Canary Islands Health Plan 2016-2017: care for people with severe mental disorders and care for child and youth mental health. It also covers areas such as the fight against stigma; mental health and gender; care for the elderly; prevention and treatment of suicidal behavior, and intra- and inter-institutional coordination.
In addition, the strategy encompasses other areas of "great relevance" such as promotion and prevention and care for people with common mental disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, dual pathology and addictions.
Another of the essential areas of the Plan is psychosocial rehabilitation, "indispensable in the integral treatment of people with severe mental disorders and that requires a wide variety of resources and intersectoral coordination".
Likewise, the document includes a strategic line dedicated to information systems, a basic tool for the planning and strategic development of the Mental Health Network, an area in which the Canary Islands stands out, thanks to its RECAP Registry. Finally, the Plan has a line dedicated to training and research, basic areas for the development of care of the highest quality and scientific updating.
363,315 consultations to 64,278 patients in 2018
From the Government of the Canary Islands it is indicated that, throughout 2018, a total of 64,278 patients were treated on an outpatient basis in the archipelago, which represents an increase of 3.18% compared to 2017. In total, with these patients, 363,315 consultations were carried out last year.
According to the regional Executive, in the Mental Health Units of the Canary Islands there is a slight predominance of the female sex among patients, 55.5 percent, and the most common age group in both sexes is 46 to 60 years, followed by 31 to 45 years. The diagnostic groups with the highest assisted prevalence were neurotic disorders secondary to stressful situations, mood disorders and schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder and delusional disorders.
Nearly 2,000 patients were treated in the hospitalization units of the SCS hospitals, with the most frequent diagnostic group among hospitalized patients being schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder and delusional disorders.
