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Mental health community services in Qormi offer continuous support to patients and their families, helping them integrate better. Gillian Bartolo, a trustee of the Richmond Foundation, says psychiatric services as part of community health services in Malta acMental health is a community matter
Mental health community services in Qormi offer continuous support to patients and their families, helping them integrate better. Gillian Bartolo, a trustee of the Richmond Foundation, says psychiatric services as part of community health services in Malta actually started in 1994. No published statistics exist about the waiting time between one appointment and the next for people with mental health problems who use public services. However, reliable mental health sources, including users, have consistently told me that the average waiting time between appointments, for a person with serious mental health difficulties and on prescribed medication, is six months – unless they are prepared to pay for a €60 private consultation, in which case the waiting average is one month. And unless they live in the catchment areas of Qormi, Paola or Floriana, Mtarfa and Cospicua, where State-run multi-disciplinary community psychiatric services are in operation. Over the years, sporadic attempts have been made to extend the services to other areas but various forces, including money, lack of staff, but also prejudice, fear and self-interest, have stood in the way. Thankfully, more recently,... Read more