Mr. John Hayes:

I will deal with the CAMHS issue first because there is no doubt that at the end of 2016 and in early 2017, we had a particular problem in the Sligo-Leitrim area with the lack of CAMHS consultants. The approved number of CAMHS consultants in the area was two and one person resigned at the end of 2016, then the second resigned in early 2017. At that point, we initiated an action plan to address some of the immediate issues that arose for parents. I have met some of the groups of parents and some of the young people. We reviewed the options available with them. Some immediate action was taken by employing a half-time consultant from Belfast, providing for access outside the area and commencing a process with general practitioners and other people in the area who provide support for mental health to young people. The main focus of the work, however, was on recruitment. We successfully recruited two consultants in June and, from that period to date, we have 2.5 consultant psychiatrists working in the CAMHS.

At the beginning of January 2017, there were 400 people on the CAMHS waiting list across CHO 1. At the end of December, that number was down to 204. In the Sligo area in particular, we have 36 young people on the CAMHS waiting list as of the end of December 2017, which is an 83% reduction from January 2017. That was the lowest month.

At the moment, the Sligo east team has the shortest waiting list across CHO 1. All 16 people on that waiting list have been on it for less than three months. I suppose we want to acknowledge the difficulties. We have worked with GPs as well. If they are concerned about a young person, they can make direct contact with a CAMHS consultant four days a week to discuss the case. If the CAMHS consultant cannot see that young person immediately, advice and support is directly provided to him or her. We can show considerable progress in addressing the issue. However, there is a fundamental issue with recruiting permanent CAMHS consultants. I think that is reflected in CHO 1. We are trying to address the issue. We sent a team to a conference on child and adolescent mental health services in Geneva as part of our recruitment drive, particularly with a view to addressing the issues in Sligo and across CHO 1. A number of consultants are interested and we will interview them in February 2018.