Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and Minister of State. I thank the Minister for his comments on the education committee's report on mental health and look forward to engaging with him further on it.

I have a few questions I wish to put to both Ministers.

A colleague commented earlier that A Vision for Change did not work but to be clear, had it been implemented in the correct manner, it certainly would have worked. In 2017, 44 children were admitted into adult mental health services due to a bed shortage. The current plan shows there are 69 CAMHS teams but only 75 CAMHS beds. What future plans are there to increase beds for children given that need is absolutely crucial? Can the Minister give the committee the number of persons who are currently waiting for a CAMHS appointment?

The introduction of the 20 psychologists and the 114 assistant psychologists to deal with waiting lists is important but I seek a little more information on who will be training the assistant psychologists. What will be their level of qualification? Given the introduction of this vast number, how will we address the problem regarding the lack of spaces allocated to training clinical psychologists? I checked with UCD this morning and there are only ten students in second year at this point in time, 16 in third year, and 14 in first year. I am aware that other universities provide training but they have a similarly small availability of places. If we are talking about bringing 114 assistant psychologists, I do not know where we are going to find them. We also will need to deal with the level of capacity in respect of university places.

On telepsychiatry - I appreciate the clarification given - what sort of engagement or consultation has there been with professionals in the field? I refer to the advances in telemedicine in respect of GP services - I am thinking here of a very effective service in Ballymore Eustace, County Kildare - whereby a lot of medication and prescriptions can be given online. Is that what we will be considering with regard to telepsychiatry too because this is a different type of health intervention that is absolutely needed?

As there is too much of a focus on medication and anti-depressants, as opposed to talk therapy, when looking at the costs and the expense of either therapy, we should be focusing on talk therapy. On a related note, who will be training the volunteers who will be providing the 24-hour text line? Given the lengthy waiting times, will consultants have the time to train these volunteers? Will they be sourced by the HSE? Will they have a background in the mental health area?