Chairman:

Perhaps I could jump in, if members do not mind, and start with a few questions. Dr. Walley used the words "heart sink" and this is my first time hearing that term. The word is that GPs tend to refer straight to CAMHS which could be causing some of the bottlenecks around the country. I asked this question of the previous group and Dr. Sadlier may be able to answer this. We have talked about psychiatric nurses, mental health workers and CAMHS teams who have to be led by psychiatrists. Is there no other solution? If there is no psychiatrist, for example, if he or she is out sick or on maternity leave, that team comes to a standstill. Is there another way to resolve this? Can we not have a team that can assess children in particular, and if there is a very serious issue, then have the consultant psychiatrist deal with that matter. Perhaps Dr. Walley can answer one half and Dr. Sadlier can answer the other half.