Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am trying desperately to be polite. I acknowledge the offer of information and support.

Deputy Corcoran Kennedy raised the issue of staffing, which was one of the questions I intended to ask, in terms of CAMHS only working at 60%. She highlighted the possibility of that being for various reasons. I will not ask the same question she asked but I have two other questions on that. First, what proportion of the 120 assistant psychologist positions allocated by the Government in last year's budget for this year will come to the community healthcare organisation, CHO? Have they been advertised and how many have been filled? If they have not been advertised, why not?

Also, on staffing, I presume the problem is not all about salaries. One of the comments made to me by two members of staff, not in our CHO but in a different one, was that there is not enough support or consideration for the staff's own mental health and well-being. People are finding that they are very overworked. Email and IT facilities are great but people find that in using email they can off-load their work onto somebody else. They may think their job is done but it is piled on to somebody else. That was a comment from two members of staff from a different CHO but it probably is an issue that affects staff in our CHO and I would like to hear about staff in that regard.

In their opening statement the witnesses said the service had been allocated additional funding to develop and enhance community based, seven day mental health services. Can they tell us more about that and what it actually involves on a day to day basis? I had a case some years ago of a lady who on three occasions had her husband drive her to present herself as being suicidal to a facility in CHO 8 and she was sent home each time. She did not even get past admissions. That was outrageous. I had her husband on the phone telling me he was doing a 24-hour watch because she said she was suicidal. That is not good enough. That happened in 2015. What does it mean when the witnesses say they have been allocated funding to develop and enhance both the community based and in-service?

Regarding finance, €95 million goes into the service. It shocked me that when the witnesses were before the committee on the other occasion they could not tell us how that money was spent. I am very curious about money that is paid to other organisations that provide a service on the service's behalf to people who need it. Some of them are excellent people who do exceptional work way beyond the call of duty but for illustration purposes, if I were to say to the witnesses that €100,000 was paid to Organisation X to provide a service, could they tell me exactly how much of that €100,000 reaches the service user and how much of it is lost in corporate events and other things that go on in organisations, including in the Health Service Executive?

I have many questions but I will conclude on this one. Appendix 4 has a table outlining the 1,081 staff, which includes medical, which is self-explanatory, and nursing. Specifically, what is general support and patient and client care, and how do they benefit the service user on a day to day basis? The witnesses can then have the rest of the day off.