Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 March 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Ms Anne O'Connor:

There are three strands to the work we are undertaking. I have mentioned the patient experience strand. The second strand is the review of compliance with the operational guidance, which is recognised as very good guidance. We know from the Maskey report that in that area they were not adhering to the guidance that is in place. That is the second strand of work. The third strand of work relates to prescribing practice. We are looking in depth at ADHD prescribing. As the Maskey report sets out, the issues arose in this area in respect of ADHD prescribing. The clear recommendation of Dr. Maskey is that we start there. However, the Minister of State has been clear that she wants us to look at broader prescribing practices and we are now finalising how we will do that.