Ms Emer Deasy:

It is not. Senator Kyne mentioned the changeover of staff. As Ms Ní Ghiolla Mhairtín said, if people are lucky enough to be getting an appointment every six months they will see the same doctor once. In six months' time, they will see somebody new. We must bear in mind that we are dealing with children who have psychological issues. They are potentially depressed, having poor thoughts about themselves and thinking negatively about themselves. Their case is discussed in front of them with a doctor who, in many cases, is a trainee rather than a consultant. Effectively, the children are almost used as guinea pigs for training. I appreciate that every doctor needs to be trained appropriately, but to do this in front of a child is not best practice. The parents should have a call in advance to go through the case file. There have been instances where parents have turned up to appointments and the record of the previous meeting or the things that were discussed are not accurately documented on the child's file. The conversations become very difficult. It is a very bad forum for a child who is already in a bad place to be sitting there listening to a discussion about themselves. It is never positive. Many of the discussions are about what is going wrong, what is happening and the child's behaviour. Even people who can get in and have regular appointments will never see the same psychiatrist. There is no opportunity for a child who is struggling with their mental health to build up a relationship or trust with the clinician looking after their care. This is a big problem.