Table 1.

Recommendations for mental health services in current pandemic and future non-pandemic contexts.

•Enable mental health services to become “pandemic ready”: that is, continue service provision during lockdowns and as we slowly emerge from them, use a blend of phone, online and in-person formats (using pandemic guidelines where appropriate)

•Develop/adapt/scale-up online interventions (e.g., psycho-educational videos) for use in both a pandemic and non-pandemic service context

•Incorporate more peer-based and community/voluntary sector provision of supports to provide for the medication needs of service users

•Minimise the redeployment of short-staffed mental health professionals to frontline pandemic duties. Instead, recruit dedicated testing/swabbing teams, as happened in Ireland 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic

•Recognise the drawbacks of service overload and duplication

•Implement a “think family” approach to mental health service provision