Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am advised by the HSE that there is a vacancy in the psychology service in Roscommon arising from an extended sick leave and that a replacement post has been approved. I understand that there is a basic grade psychology panel in place and that the vacancy is being treated as a priority and will be filled as soon as possible, taking account of the recruitment process.

Primary care services are usually the first point of contact for families seeking help. With appropriate information and training, GPs are best placed to recognise risk factors for mental health issues, provide treatment or advice where appropriate and refer to more appropriate services or specialist services when this is indicated. Issues of a mild to moderate degree benefit from intervention at primary care level. Many children and adolescents experience mild emotional difficulties, which are often transient and do not require specialist intervention, but require support from other services.

The HSE's national service plan provides €5 million to address psychology services in primary care. This allocation aims to support services to work more effectively through increased resources and the development of new ways of working both within primary care and between primary care and mental health services. Primary care and mental health divisions in the HSE prepared joint plans for a more integrated primary care-based psychology service to focus on providing better access and using a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach. The approach would address existing deficits and target areas of greatest need.

From the funding, the HSE proposes to provide more than 100 assistant psychologist posts to deliver rapid access, low-intensity psychological interventions for young people with mild to moderate mental health problems. That is currently being considered in the Department. In addition, 20 additional staff grade psychologists for children in geographical areas, where there are no or an inadequate numbers of posts in place, are currently being recruited.

The dedicated funding will also provide for the delivery a computerised cognitive behavioural therapy, cCBT, programme for young people. The additional posts will provide services to service users under 18 years of age to address those waiting for treatment in the mental health and primary care divisions, while the online resource will also be developed for adolescents with mild to moderate mental health presentations.

Resources are allocated to work towards ensuring there is a consistent baseline in terms of staffing across primary care services with the areas of greatest need being addressed in the first instance. Working in partnership with other service provision stakeholders, primary care psychology services will adopt a stepped care model of service provision in child and adolescent services. These services will include rapid assessment for all referrals, a single point of contact to the health care system for all non-crisis and non-complex emotional or behavioural referrals, and a continuum of care through integrated working with primary care and secondary care professionals and with community agencies. Service provision will be monitored and evaluated regularly to ensure the resources are providing the new model of stepped care provision for young people. The Deputy may rest assured that my Department, in conjunction with the HSE, will continue to closely monitor planned service improvements for this key care area.

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