Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Developments in Mental Health Services: Discussion

Dr. Susan Finnerty:

With regard to the age range the Deputy gave of children aged between ten and 13, if a child of this age comes into an accident and emergency department with self-harm or suicidal ideas, it certainly needs a response from the child and adolescent mental health services. The difficulty, as Ms Mitchell and I have said, is this it is not available in every area. Obviously this is concerning and we recommend an out-of-hours CAMH service available for accident and emergency departments so children who present, particularly at that age, are picked up by the CAMH services.