Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy makes very fair and valid points and has always been very reasonable and particularly constructive in her approach. In addition, her constructive approach has been very consistent. She has been consistent on this matter, and it deserves more attention.

As it happened, I had a number of meetings on more global issues this morning. They covered the provision of services to young people, in particular, and trying to deal with the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, waiting list. These matters are all connected. There is a shortage of psychologists. This is difficult for me and the Department, and much more difficult for those waiting to gain access to services. To address this, we must examine how we do what we do and start doing it in a different way.

As the Deputy will be well aware, a consultant psychiatrist heads each CAMHS team but the reality is that we cannot have a consultant psychiatrist filling every gap that exists. There are similar difficulties at psychologist level. We are currently trying to recruit assistant psychologists. Assistant psychologist is a lower grade. "Grade" might be the wrong word but I refer to a lower level of intervention. We are trying to recruit 114 assistant psychologists, which is proving challenging. In the next year, I hope to roll out a system whereby we would operate a scheme such as CAMHS but with lower level intervention services for children across the country, thereby trying to fill in the gaps with assistant psychologists.

This morning, I said to my officials in the Department that I would like to see tele-psych services in operation. IT has enormous potential in the area of mental health. It does not with physical health. There would not be a need for a consultant psychiatrist to travel 100 km from one post to another if the patient could avail of tele-psych services in a primary care centre through digital technology. The technology is so advanced nowadays that the experience would be the exact same as sitting in a room with the psychiatrist.

There are new ways at which my team and I are looking to address these issues. I will continue my drive and focus in that regard. I will also continue to keep a close eye on the service in Waterford and liaise with the Deputy on it. I appreciate that by raising it here she has provided me with an opportunity to focus on the particular matter to see if we can address the significant issues involved, particularly the disparity between the numbers employed in Kilkenny and Waterford. I will also take up the Deputy's point about whole-time equivalents with the HSE.

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