Monday, October 27, 2003

Mental health care 'a maze' (Canada)
Toronto Star story - "The mental health care system in Toronto and the Peel region is 'egregiously under-funded, hard to understand, severely fragmented and difficult to access,' says a stinging report commissioned by Ontario's former Tory government but never released. The system 'is plagued by shortages of qualified staff and by insufficient use of evidence-based practices ... the current level of investment in this non-system is insufficient.' This situation 'is a crying shame,' the report concludes. ... The report was compiled by the 30-member Toronto-Peel task force, one of nine the Tories appointed across the province in January, 2000 to develop a mental health action plan. More than 10,000 Ontarians were consulted. The task forces delivered their reports to then Minister of Health Tony Clement in December, 2002, but he did not release any of them, angering task force members."