From Department of Health
By: Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy;
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As part of Budget 2022 I am announcing an investment of €16m for new measures to support Healthy Ireland and the National Drugs Strategy, with a further €13m allocated under COVID-19 specific funding.
The challenge of tackling obesity is a key priority action under the Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan. We know that six in ten adults are overweight or obese. Funding of €1.6m is being made available for obesity initiatives including a new citizen engagement healthy weight campaign.
Encouraging our citizens to take part in physical activity is another key objective of Healthy Ireland. The National Physical Activity Plan was published in 2016 and great progress has been made in implementing the Plan. Funding of over €900,000 is being provided for a coordinated approach to support further interventions that promote physical activity. Through the HSE, we will roll out a Physical Activity Pathways in Healthcare Framework, and this will be complemented by placing Physical Activity for Health officers through Sport Ireland in Local Sports Partnerships.
In the area of sexual health, funding of €3m is being allocated for the national roll out of an online testing service for sexually transmitted infections, or STIs. The service is hugely important against the backdrop of a syphilis outbreak. Integrating an online STI testing service with established public STI clinics is an effective, efficient way to increase access to and capacity for STI testing services.
We are all aware of the huge importance of minding our mental health, In recent years I have had the pleasure of visiting a number of local community initiatives where social prescribing activities such as walking in some of our very pleasant woodlands, are being prescribed as part of the treatment for those coping with social isolation and other mental health challenges.
Social Prescribing links patients in primary care with sources of community support and social interaction which can include arts and creativity, physical activity, peer and group support, Men’s Sheds, many more. The HSE has recently launched its Framework for Social Prescribing and I am providing funding of over €750,000 for the rollout of the framework.
I am happy to note that some of the Healthy Ireland funding will be provided to the continuation of a number of successful progammes previously supported by the Slaintecare Integration Fund. These include programmes for the management of chronic disease, smoking, reducing alcohol harm, supporting new mothers in the community, and the Making Every Contact Count programme.
Separately, I am providing additional COVID-19 funding of €3m for Healthy Ireland for 2022 to develop initiatives under the current government COVID-19 plan “Reframing the challenge, continuing our recovery and reconnecting” to support people to “reconnect” socially with family and their communities.
I am providing €6m for new measures to support the implementation of the national drugs strategy.
This funding will be used to strengthen the health-led approach to drug and alcohol use, as set out in the Programme for Government. It will also support the strategic priorities for 2021-2025, which were identified in the recent mid-term review of the national drugs strategy, and which I will be publishing shortly.
I am providing €1.7m for measures to increase the availability of HSE drug and alcohol services on a nationwide basis. This will include services for people with alcohol addiction, people under 18 years, families affected by drugs, as well as rehabilitation and recovery programmes.
I have prioritised greater access to and provision of community-based drug and alcohol services for women, ethnic minorities and LGBTI+. There can also be barriers in accessing services for women and minority groups. The lived experience of people who use drugs will be central to the design and delivery of the new services, as will the network of drug and alcohol task forces.
I am providing additional services for children and families who are impacted by parental drug and alcohol use. The new services will support the implementation of the HSE-Tusla strategic statement and practice guide on hidden harm.
To address high-risk drug use, such as crack cocaine and other stimulant drugs, I am expanding harm reduction responses in local communities and the night-time economy. I also propose to extend the Naloxone training programme to prevent drug overdose deaths.
This government is committed to a health-led approach to individuals found in possession of drugs for personal use. We support compassion, not punishment. To commence the implementation of the health diversion programme, funding is allocated to provide health screening and brief intervention (known as SAOR) for people referred to the programme, across all CHOs.
My second priority is to provide health services to meet the complex health needs of people who are homeless. Many people who are homeless are also high risk drug users.
I am making available funding of €1.3m to support the expansion of tenancies under the Housing First programme for people who are long-term homeless and develop an integrated care and case management service for up to 4,000 single homeless people with complex health needs in Dublin.
Separately, I am providing a further €10m in COVID-19 funding in 2022 to maintain public health measures and to consolidate improvements in health services for people who are homeless, that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will announce details of this funding shortly.
Finally, I am providing €0.5m to support health services for primary school children and young people in Dublin north east inner city, first developed on a pilot basis under the NEIC initiative. This will benefit 1,800 primary school children with developmental, social or behavioural needs, as well as young people with mental health issues.