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

I accept what the Deputy is saying. Of our population, 5% will suffer from eating disorders. That is a large cohort. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental health issue, with a figure of 10% attributed to it.

The Deputy referred to staffing challenges. I am acutely aware of them. More than 2,000 posts in mental health services have been approved since 2012, but we have only been able to fill 1,300 of those. It is not a question of resources or money. The Government can only control so many factors. We must examine a new way of working. For that reason, I have asked the HSE to explore the avenue of teletechnology and telepsych, through which we can deliver mental health services online and in new ways. A consultant psychiatrist does not need to go to every crossroads and spend half the day travelling. Mental health is one of those areas in which we can be imaginative and more creative. We can examine ways of doing that. Among others, this is one of the initiatives that I am pursuing with the HSE to try to deal with the recruitment issue. I am confident that we will make progress.

I understand that there is pressure regarding the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, waiting teams, but 114 assistant psychologists have been recruited. We must introduce a lower level of intervention. Not everyone who attends a GP with a mental health issue needs to be referred to a consultant psychiatrist. That has been the practice for years, but it is not necessary. We are in the process of building a lower level of intervention that will deal with many of these issues.

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