Mr. Peter Hughes:

Absolutely. In 2011, the Mental Health Commission code stated that no children were to be admitted to adult units. We saw the 2016 figures where one in seven CAMHS admissions were to adult units. It is unacceptable. Whatever about a child being admitted for one night, my understanding is that two children were in a unit in Waterford for six weeks just coming up to the Christmas period. We highlighted our concerns regarding a child who was admitted last May or June and slept on a chair that night. An adult unit is a totally inappropriate environment for children, but we are operating with just 63 of the 100 CAMHS beds promised 11 years ago. The demand for those beds is a lot higher than 100. We are trying to get 100 beds but that is probably not sufficient because the community resource was not put in place. We have few fully functional multidisciplinary teams in CAMHS. We have four day hospitals nationally where there should be 15.

We have not put the alternative to hospitals in place, yet the latest figure shows that almost 3,000 children are awaiting assessment. If we do not address child and adolescent mental health issues, they will come into the adult system. We need to intervene as early as possible in mental health. We see all the time that the numbers are growing. Currently, the statistics are that one in two of those aged under 25 years of age will have a mental health problem. That is unbelievable. One in four people will have a mental health problem in their lifetime, yet we are investing 6% of the budget in an area that needs to cover 25% of the population.