Mental health champion proposed by Robin Swann will be powerless, says campaigner

Michael and Marjorie Cawdery, both aged 83, died in a knife attack by Thomas McEntee at their home in Portadown in 2017.

It later emerged that the mentally ill killer had made four separate visits to hospital seeking help before arriving at the Cawdery home – on one occasion while completely naked, with cuts on his arm after self-harming, and believing his life to be in danger.

The pensioners’ family have been demanding changes to the way mental health is dealt with in Northern Ireland since discovering the circumstances surrounding the death of their loved ones.

Last week, Health Minister Robin Swann published a mental health ‘action plan’ for Northern Ireland.

He said a mental health champion would be appointed to advise government on mental health services.

But the Cawdery family are not happy with the proposed post, arguing that any forthcoming mental health champion won’t have any real authority to hold government to account.

Mr Cawdery’s son-in-law Charles Little, who was first on the scene following their brutal killing, told the News Letter: “The mental health champion, if they see something going wrong, needs to be able to challenge the minister – and the minister concerned needs to be legally obligated to act.

“The children’s commissioner has similar powers, the older people’s commissioner has similar powers.

“But this mental health champion, because they are not going to appoint him or her as a commissioner with legislation in the Assembly, is not going to be able to force his views on anybody.

“I can challenge the minister of health on what he is saying. The only difference between a mental health champion doing that and me or anyone else doing that is the title. There is no more legal authority than what I have.”

Mr Little added: “At the moment, we face huge problems in Northern Ireland. Suicides and mental health-related homicides are ocurring at a similar level to the deaths because of the Troubles. We need somone with authority to force the necessary changes.”

Last week, Mr Swann told BBC Radio Ulster: “We didn’t get the full extent of going to a commissioner for the post and that’s because of the time it would take to get to legislation to create that post.”

Mr Little added: “In the Mental Health Plan the champion will be in post by February 2021.

“That’s nine months – plenty of time to get legislation through the Assembly. The Accelerated Passage Procedure can push it through in about three months.”

Meanwhile, there has been support for the mental health champion as proposed by Mr Swann.

David Babington, from the charity Action Mental Health, told the BBC that the creation of the role is a positive step.

“There are acute, mental health needs in our communities requiring a unique solution and a champion with a dedicated focus will help achieve this,” he said.