Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Developments in Mental Health Services: Discussion

Dr. Shari McDaid:

I will make a comment in reply to the Deputy's questions. Clearly, CAMHS are very under-resourced. They have approximately 56% of the recommended number of staff. Inevitably, those services retrench. They heighten the criteria for admission because they feel that they cannot cope. There was also a major increase in demand - it is believed to have been 25% - for CAMHS.