Clare Byrne

And you are supposed to get full wraparound therapeutic services.

That's what the Mental Health Commission says should be provided for you there.

But what you found through these figures is that that's really not happening in many cases.

So would it be fair then, Liam, to describe the services in some of these places as being like firefighting?

So you're getting the nursing care, you might be getting psychiatric care at a bare minimum, but you're not getting all of the other things that will get you to a place where you can go back and resume your life.

And just tell me about your own experience working in this field.

Is it that people aren't coming through the educational system to work in these services?

Or is it because of the restriction on hiring, the pay and number system that you've just described to us?

Is that what is keeping people out of these roles?

Or what is happening?

We know that we spend billions and it's rising on health.

We know that there is a move to control government spending, which is welcomed by many, you know, who hate to see wasteful spending.

So what is the solution when you think about the overall context here, that there can't be an unlimited budget when it comes to any government department?

Is it about prioritising?

And can you tell me about the real world impacts of this on people who need the service provision?

Like what is happening?

But just to come away from the broader policy, like if you are somebody who needs a mental health intervention, what do you do?

Where do you go?

For some, is there no option but to present to an emergency department?

I have a listener texting us this morning telling me that the nursing staff are run ragged in the Department of Psychiatry clinics, morale is broken, and the issue being it's not psychiatry, acute psychiatry anymore as it was.