Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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All of that is very positive and it is just important that we measure it. We need systems in place to do that.

I want to go back to points that were made about children's mental health services. A comment was made or an indication was given that they are standardised across the country. There has, understandably, been a lot of political focus on child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, because of what emerged in south Kerry and so on. The whole area of primary care psychology services has been very much overlooked. I will look at area 4, and Cork, in particular. I saw figures recently and there are now over 4,000 children on waiting lists for primary care psychology services in the Cork area alone. That goes up to nearly 5,000 when Kerry is included. I do not think that the moratorium is any excuse because those waiting lists predate it. What is happening in the Cork area? Why are there long waiting lists? Are there particular problems relating to Cork? Have there been a lot of vacancies or what is the situation in Cork? That more than 4,000 children are waiting for psychology services is completely unacceptable.