A workshop on the future of mental health care has been organised by the Ministry for Health and Active Ageing in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, the Ministry stated.

The Ministry said that a number of stakeholders in the field of health as well as other fields took part in a two-day National Workshop with the main theme being 'the future of mental health care'.

This workshop, the Ministry continued, was held as part of the WHO Regional Office for Europe program of 'Tackling mental health challenges in the 27 countries of the European Union, Iceland, and Norway' which is funded by the EU.

The Ministry said that the aim of the workshop was to identify the opportunities that lead to improvements in the field of mental health, as well as to discuss ways of integrating mental health care into health services.

When addressing the workshop, Minister Jo Etienne Abela commented that great advances have been made in mental health care during the last few years. He spoke of how the Mount Carmel Hospital had around 580 patients in 2014, with this number now having dropped to 250. He added that in the same period, the number of psychiatric consultants doubled from 12 to 24.

The Minister spoke of the important work being done in the transfer of psychiatric care in the community, as well as the introduction of the 1579 helpline and the work being carried out by the Home Crisis Resolution team. He also spoke of the importance of employees continuing to receive all assistance so that their own mental health is protected.

Abela concluded by saying that the Government is committed to continuing making more changes in this very important area.