Ms Hannah N? Ghiolla Mhairt?n:

In September, we met officials from the Department of Health along with Dr. Amanda Burke, the new clinical lead of CAMHS. In October, we also met the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. We raised our concerns, to which they were receptive. I am not sure we got any clear commitments from them coming out of the meeting but they were receptive. They were trying to say to us that they are on our side and they are also trying to bring about reform. Where we differ is perhaps the level of urgency with which we see that reform has to be brought about. We have children in our group who cannot wait. This is seriously urgent for some children. Being told initiatives are in progress that will allay our concerns is all very well and good but we cannot get the detail on what those initiatives are. This means, first of all, that we cannot assess if we think that will respond to the problem, especially around the CAMHS service for intellectual disabilities. I think there was widespread acknowledgement that it is not good enough and it was raised that CAMHS was looking at putting in place a telehealth interim solution or a solution in which children can be referred from one area to another where there is a relevant team. Even for these stopgap measures, no timeframes could be given, let alone for when that service would be up and running. The meetings went well but we are still not clear on what is actually happening. That speaks to the Deputy's point that if progress is monitored across a number of different policies and service plans, we cannot find out what is happening. If there was the consolidated approach under the Mental Health Commission's recommendations and they were reported on, it would lead to more transparency about what is actually happening and might allay our concerns or give more opportunity for us to engage and give feedback. When we hear about new initiatives, it is the families who can see that there might be issues. It would be great to have the opportunity to consult on some of the proposals.