Debate contribution: Health Crisis

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 3 February 2025.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

3 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Health Crisis

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4774523

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I wish to focus my remarks on a local issue in my constituency of North Antrim, which I believe falls within the scope of the motion. In September 2024, I spoke about a mental health charity in my constituency that provides an invaluable service in crisis intervention, counselling and family support. As of today, Turning Point NI in Ballymena remains without secure long-term funding, despite continuing to provide an essential service across North Antrim. At the end of March, the National Lottery funding that directly pays four members of its staff will stop. The next round of allocations will not be assessed and awarded until September 2025, which puts the vital charity at risk of closure. Turning Point specialises in tier 3 and tier 4 cases, which include those with complex diagnoses, often dual diagnosis, and those who, sadly, present as wishing to end their own lives. The crisis intervention and de-escalation front-line service that it provides is essential and cannot be left by the wayside. Indeed, it is often referred the most complex of cases by the community mental health team, under the banner of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and other public bodies. Yet, none of these agencies has directly offered or provided funding for that work to continue. Last September, it was estimated that the work carried out by Turning Point has saved the trust in the region of £70,000 —

— and that figure continues to rise.

The motion before us talks about how we fix the health service and issues with mental health services. I believe that my comments about that charity fall within that. To me, it is clear that the Northern Trust is simply not well enough resourced to deal with the most complex mental health needs. Yet, it is expected that a charity in my area will continue to pick up the slack for free. I dread to think what will happen to the people who are failed by the system should Turning Point disappear from the landscape. To where will they turn, who will care for them and where will the almost 100 people currently on its waiting list go? Who will intervene when they are most vulnerable? Perhaps, we could look at other trusts that are doing crisis intervention and de-escalation, and, after raising the issue in the House for a second time, along with the other letters of support from elective representatives, local authorities and statutory agencies, it might finally be taken seriously. I invite the Minister to visit Turning Point NI to understand the issues and address them accordingly before it is too late. That charity was based and created on the back of too many lives being lost in the Ballymena area. I trust that we will not get to the point at which we see the number of lives being lost increasing because that charity has run out of money.

493 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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