Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for giving me the opportunity to outline what is happening and where we are at present.

A Vision for Change recommended one consultant-led mental health intellectual disability team per 150,000 population. This equates to 31 teams, each consisting of a consultant psychiatrist, a doctor in training, two psychologists, two clinical nurse specialists, an administrator and registered nurses with specialist training. Each of those teams would equate to ten staff, that is, 310 in total.

Recognising the significant need to develop, in particular, the mental health intellectual disability teams for both adults and children, and while I understand we are only talking about adults, in 2014 a mapping of the service provision by the HSE's mental health division showed that this service was largely consultant-only provided through teams, voluntary agencies or within the HSE services. The national clinical lead for the mental health division developed a proposal to reorganise and expand the service in line with the A Vision for Change model. With the additional programme for Government funding, approximately 100 posts have been allocated to this area in the past three years. These posts are in various stages of recruitment with some already in place. This number alone represents over 20% of the recommended posts in A Vision for Change.

Currently, regarding consultants, there are 17.5 consultants for adults, 12.5 of whom are currently working with small teams following the allocation referred to earlier. These are not all full teams, but that is a problem we all will agree we are trying to address. A further 5.5 consultants with small teams have been allocated and are currently being recruited. This means that 74% of consultants recommended in A Vision for Change are either in place or soon to be in place working with their teams. While some progress has been made and recruitment of posts is ongoing, the service nationally remains below recommended levels.

In light of ongoing difficulties in recruiting consultants trained in this speciality, the HSE's mental health division has worked with the HSE national doctors training programme and the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland to modernise qualifications for these posts in line with practice internationally. This is already improving recruitment, as is the funding of a higher specialist training post in child mental health intellectual disabilities.

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