Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak about two areas, one of which is the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. At the start of this year I sat around the table with the directorate with responsibility for mental health - of both adults and children - to examine the waiting list, which was substantial and stood at 3,206. The group did an incredible job of analysing the waiting list to identify the delays, who was waiting longest, the nature of their diagnoses, the treatment they were waiting for and how they were going to be seen. As a result of that, between March and August the number of people on the list decreased by 30%. We are particularly focused on those waiting longer than 12 months for their first appointment. It was pointed out to me that people who are waiting longer than 12 months are not the urgent cases requiring immediate attention. Nevertheless, I can only imagine what it must be like to have a child in those circumstances and to be waiting for that long for an appointment.

We have been reducing the waiting list month on month since March. During July and August we reduced it by a further 20%, bringing it down from 300 in July to 241 in August. One particular area accounts for almost half of the remaining number and we are looking at a particular targeted intervention where we are insisting on that number being reduced dramatically. As soon as we have eliminated those who have been waiting longer than 12 months from the list, we will move on to people who have been waiting for more than nine months.

This is happening at a time of increasing demand. This is not a static figure and demand for the services is increasing. I compliment the director and her staff. The initiative was very well thought out and had many elements within it. It was done on an area-by-area basis. All teams in each area were asked to come on board.

One particular initiative by a consultant and some of her staff cleared a waiting list in four weeks. It is not always about additional resources although, naturally, when we are talking about children and their mental health, the appropriate type of resources are important. In this instance, it was about a different way of doing things and I am glad to see that progress is being made.

On speech and language therapy, we intend to take a serious look at the waiting lists. We have difficulties in certain areas, such as Kildare, west Wicklow, Cork and Dublin north. There are difficulties with accessing treatment in Cork north Lee, Wexford, Laois and Offaly. We have to approach this in a very targeted way and intend to start that process very shortly. That will be within the primary care section. We intend to look at the backlog and intend that it will be dealt with over the next four to six months. This will cost approximately €1.5 million as a once-off cost. We are putting in place a long-term approach so that the numbers will not start to rise again. It is about doing things differently, taking an in-depth and intensive look at one particular area. I thought the committee should know that there is good news as well, despite some of the things we hear.