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	Merchant&rsquo;s Quay Ireland notes 66% surge in demand for its mental health support</p>
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	The largest voluntary drug treatment service in the State experienced &ldquo;unprecedented&rdquo; demand across its services last year, as &ldquo;poverty, hunger, addiction, overdose and homelessness&rdquo; continue for its increasing number of clients.</p>
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	Merchant&rsquo;s Quay Ireland, in its 2015 annual report published this morning, says it saw a 66 per cent increase in demand for its mental health services, a 15 per cent rise in need for its drop-in service and a 19 per cent increase in demand for its nursing service, since 2014. Since 2011, there has been a 35 per cent rise in demand for its needle-exchange service.</p>
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	Some 7,500 people accessed its homelessness services last year, while 68,239 meals were served by its day service in 2015 &ndash; an 8 per cent increase on 2014. In all, MQI served 98, 865 meals to poor and homeless people in 2015.</p>
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	&ldquo;Given the fact that our clients are predominantly single, their prospect of being housed is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future,&rdquo; says Mick Price, chairman of the charity&rsquo;s board, in the report.</p>
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	The charity opened its night cafe, on Dublin&rsquo;s south quays, on January 1st last year, operating seven nights a week, 11pm-8am. It describes itself as a &ldquo;plan B&rdquo; for homeless people who cannot get, or do not want, an emergency bed. This year it increased its capacity from 50 people a night to 70 to meet demand and 1,971 individuals used the cafe in 2015.</p>
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	People in crisis</p>
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	The drop-in service, which links people in crisis with such services as emergency housing, social and medical services, recorded 6,442 interventions &ndash; an increase of 15 per cent on 2014.</p>
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	The charity&rsquo;s nursing post was vacant for four months of 2015. However, when it was filled there was an average of 179 nursing interventions a month, an increase of 19 per cent on the previous year.</p>
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	&ldquo;The GP service continues to be in high demand with 2,117 consultations, or 176 a month &ndash; an increase of 7 per cent compared to 2014.&rdquo;</p>
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	Last year, 279 people needed the mental health nursing service, a 66 per cent increase on 2014. The charity &ldquo;sadly&rdquo; saw young people &ldquo;growing up in our day services&rdquo; &ldquo;A life revolving around homelessness and drug services is not what we want for our clients.&rdquo; Its dedicated support worker helped 164 people aged 18 to 25.</p>
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	&ldquo;As mentioned in previous years, the statistics concerning fatalities among drug users remains a national disgrace,&rdquo; writes Mr Price. &ldquo; We welcome the recognition of the life-saving value of safe injecting facilities and encourage our politicians to expedite legislation to make them a reality.&rdquo;</p>
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	Chief executive Tony Geoghegan said despite the pressures there was a &ldquo;real chance for positive change&rdquo;.</p>
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	The Government is consulting on developing a new national drug strategy to run from next year. &ldquo;We hope the Government will hold to its commitments to prioritise homelessness and drugs and provide leadership and resources needed,&rdquo; said Mr Geoghegan.</p>
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	(Published by the Irish TImes on the 16th September 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/drug-treatment-centre-reports-huge-rise-in-use-of-services-1.2792850">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/drug-treatment-centre-reports-huge-rise-in-use-of-services-1.2792850</a></p>
