Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care
Mental Health Services' Funding and Performance Indicators: Discussion
2:45 pm
Ms Kate Mitchell:
Absolutely. In terms of a couple of quick wins, there is huge demand for talking therapies at primary care level and that is somewhere we could invest significantly. Deputy Carey asked about the cost of extending services from five to seven days a week. The Minister of State with responsibility for mental health services has made a commitment to extend those adult mental health services which do not have seven-day cover to seven days a week and we know that is costing approximately €5 million. Given that there are fewer child and adolescent mental health teams, one speculates that the cost would be a little less albeit in and around the €5 million figure. Certainly, we are looking for 24-7 cover and that is just the first step towards it.