Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1006805
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 JULY 2018 JAM ES DEBONO MALTA'S 'build now, sanc- tion later' mentality seems to have pervaded the entire planning process: even the Planning Authority's direc- torate was shocked to learn a local council wanted the light for an illegal monu- ment. The monument, located on the public pavement along St Joseph High Street, is dedi- cated to Hamrun's two pa- tron saints: St George Preca and St Cajetan. But while it was inaugurated in Janu- ary, a decision by the PA on whether it should be there in the first place still has to be taken. It is very often that the PA gets to regularise illegally- built agricultural stores or al fresco encroachments on public walkways. But this case of a council taking liberties has prompt- ed the PA's case officer to recommend a doubling of the applicable fine for the sheer reason that a local council "should give an ex- ample of good governance". The case officer was par- ticularly incensed by the fact that the applicant did not even bother to ask the PA to "sanction" the devel- opment. In fact, the applica- tion is one for "a proposed monument" – the operative word being redundant. The application was pre- sented in October last year but was only issued for pub- lic consultation in February, a month after the monu- ment was unveiled. Defiantly the case officer is recommending a refusal claiming that the monu- ment has a negative impact on the setting of the area and is not in keeping with the context. He also object- ed to the materials used in its construction. "Furthermore, the monu- ment has already been constructed, although the application does not make any reference to this in any way," the case officer said. This would mean that the Hamrun local council would have to remove it. But the PA's planning com- mission, which will decide on the matter, also has a long track-record of regular- ising illegalities, and indeed it hinted that it intends to approve the monument be- cause there was no objection from the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. The 4.6m-high monument consists of illuminated stained glass depicting the two patron saints of Ham- run, on a concrete base in travertine marble cladding. Although located on the public pavement, the monu- ment allows adequate space as passageway for pedestri- ans. MASSIMO COSTA WHILE the government's mental health service for children and young people is generally considered to be of high quality, its users are concerned about the lack of continuity of care and the un- reasonably long waiting times for an appointment, a recent survey has found. The findings emerged from a 2018 study by psychiatrists Andrea Saliba and Nigel Camilleri, which analysed the responses of 211 young peo- ple – with an average age of just under ten years and who attended the Children and Young Persons Support Ser- vices in November 2015 – to an evaluation survey of the service. CYPS is a government service aimed at offering help to children, adolescents and their families who are facing difficulties in their life, and through which workers in the field meet with young people, develop treatment and care plans, and offer support. All participants to the sur- vey, which was the first user satisfaction evaluation car- ried out for CYPS, were un- der 18 and were classified as having a mental disorder ac- cording to ICD-10 (Interna- tional Statistical Classifica- tion of Diseases and Related Health Problems). Respect for treatment opinions Overall, the survey docu- mented positive feedback from the young people about the quality of the service, with 73% saying the level of help offered was excellent or very good. Almost 70% said the overall quality was excel- lent or very good. When it came to the respect shown for the young peo- ple's opinions about treat- ment, and to the matching of treatment plans to individual needs, 69% and 63% respec- tively of the survey's respond- ents gave ratings of excellent or very good. The overall quality of care, the survey showed, was sig- nificantly correlated with the respect shown for the young people's opinions on treat- ment, to the matching of the treatment plan to their needs, and to the helpfulness of the service. Continuity of care absent The survey, however, high- lighted the respondents' concern on the absence of continuity of care, making it difficult to establish a thera- peutic relationship between clinicians and young persons. The study argued that this could be the result of the nature of the system, where young people receiving care are reviewed by a different doctor at each visit to CYPS. One way of addressing this would be to assign each cli- nician their own caseload, allowing them to follow the youngster's progress from start to end. If a young person's indi- vidual needs and treatment plans are matched, that per- son would feel the service was helpful, and this would significantly predict the over- NEWS Hamrun's illegal saints await blessing Youth mental lacks continuity A survey of 211 young people using mental health service shows that the level of help offered is good, but that continuity of care absent