Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 26 May 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (Resumed)
Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Mr. Paul Reid:

I thank the Deputy for his opening remarks which are always appreciated by our teams on the front line. In terms of mental health services, CAMHS and budgets overall, we have certainly seen increased funding in the period 2012 to 2021. There has been increased funding of €452 million extra in that period. In that time, we have recruited 1,500 extra staff into mental health services. I know the Deputy is asking specifically about the focus on outcomes. We have been specifically focused. We are seeing increased numbers of teams in CAMHS across the board. Yes, there is a challenge in recruitment, which I am happy to take separately. We have seen, as part of that over that period, reduced admissions to both CAMHS and mental health services. We have built capacity over the past few years in mental health overall. It is about shifting the delivery of services and the future vision away from congregated settings. A major part of our investment funding goes into moving people more into supported care services.

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