Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The demand for counselling in primary care, CIPC, is steadily growing. The number of referrals increased from 14,407 in 2014 to 17,000 in 2015. Waiting lists for access to a first appointment are long and growing. A total of 2,496 people were waiting for counselling at the end of the first quarter of 2016. Of these, 45%, or 1,119 people, were waiting for between four and 12 weeks; 21%, or 520 people, were waiting for between 12 and 24 weeks; and 5%, or 139 people, were waiting over 24 weeks. In the improving access to psychological therapies, IAPT, service in the United Kingdom, the target is that 75% of referrals be seen within just six weeks and 95% within 18 weeks. These waiting times for those in need of emotional and mental support at very difficult and troubled times in their lives are not acceptable. A long wait for counselling is not just a possibility; it is the norm. Over 26% of people waited at least a quarter of a year for their first appointment. Who knows what people in a vulnerable state may go through in this time? How many on the lists engaged in self-harm or self-harming behaviour, made an attempt on their life, or sought emergency support which, of course, was found wanting.

Even when people gain access to the CIPC model, they are only offered eight sessions. That may well be enough for some, but it is also far too little for many. Mental Health Reform which has been to the fore in raising this issue has called for an expansion of the number to 20 sessions, as in the United Kingdom. The Minister of State must also work to expand the CIPC service to be available not just to medical card holders but also to people on low incomes who are above the medical card threshold. Far too many people on low incomes forgo needed counselling because they cannot afford it. This in the end has untold costs.

The CIPC service is only available to adults. This is a major gap, given the clear potential for positive outcomes from counselling for younger people who are particularly at risk and poorly placed to afford such counselling. Jigsaw and other programmes do good work, but they could and should be supplemented when needed, particularly when we know that child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, remain understaffed in most cases based on a recent HSE report.

A major concern for people who wish to see an improvement in this and other mental health services is the failure by the Government to live up to previous pronouncements on budget increases for these services. The Government has now promised to increase the mental health budget by just 1.8% or €15 million in 2017 - less than half what it claimed on budget day. Will the Minister of State commit to reviewing this funding level which is clearly inadequate to address growing demand and the need to improve services generally to implement A Vision for Change? This €15 million is simply not enough and feels like a box-ticking exercise by a Government that, having promised an increase, felt obliged to provide the crumbs off the table but dressed them up as something better when the media were watching.

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