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

I thank the Deputies who spoke and took the time to ensure we could raise this matter on the floor of the Dáil following last Thursday's programme which highlighted many of the issues debated in this House in recent times in protecting youth mental health and particular issues surrounding the specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS. Overall, the programme adopted a balanced approach, showing both the positive and negative aspects of the system. It referenced the increasing demands, good practice and the service improvements required.

I stressed on the programme that youth mental health had to be viewed in its widest sense and seen as more than just the specialist CAMHS. A priority for the Government is improving all aspects of prevention and early intervention, including progressing implementation of the 2017 report of the national youth mental health task force. Our aim is to improve access to services by examining options such as seven-day cover, 24-hour cover, developing a national telephone and text helpline and other digital information and supports, as access to early intervention and the signposting to services clearly need improvement for service users.

Mental health remains a priority for the Government. This is reflected by the additional €35 million we gave in the last budget, bringing total HSE funding in the area to over €910 million. The HSE service plan for 2018 is developing CAMHS against a background where the population of children is growing and the demand for CAMHS saw a 26% increase between 2012 and 2017. Approximately 18,800 referrals are expected to CAMHS this year, with approximately 14,300 being seen by this specialist service. A particular issue that came through strongly on the RTÉ programme was that of service variation around the country, particularly in accessing services, addressing urgent cases and tackling waiting lists. The HSE launched a standard operating procedure in 2015 for both inpatient and community CAMHS. The executive is reviewing its operational procedure and this review is expected to be completed by mid year. We expect it to reinforce the message that services must be delivered equitably across the country.

Other CAMHS-specific measures included in the HSE service plan for 2018 include increasing the number of CAMHS referrals to be seen this year by 27% compared to the number in 2017. The measures will also seek to provide a seven-day per week service for CAMHS to ensure supports for young people in line with Connecting for Life. They will also improve day hospital services within CAMHS and develop eating disorder specialist community teams for young people, with a range of "talking therapies" such as dialectical behaviour therapy. The executive is also enhancing access by older adolescents to specialist mental health services, with continued appropriate placement and care in CAMHS-specific settings.

There have been widely acknowledged difficulties in recruiting and retaining specialist CAMHS staff, while recruitment efforts have been ongoing, notwithstanding a serious shortage of suitably qualified CAMHS consultants at both national and European level. A key approach to reducing pressures on CAMHS is the decision by the Government to increase access to counselling services in HSE primary care services. The recent appointment of 114 assistant psychologists and 20 psychologists will go some way towards developing such a service for teenagers and young people. The genuine and serious issues raised on the recent RTÉ programme will receive full and proper consideration by the Department of Health and the HSE in the context of our collective efforts to improve all aspects of mental health services for young people.

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