Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Browne for raising this important matter. Unfortunately, the Minister of State with responsibility for this area, Deputy Daly, is not here but has asked me to address the matter on his behalf.

Mental health policy, including policies and services for the prevention of suicide, remains a priority for Government. This is reflected by the additional funding of €35 million provided in the last budget, bringing total HSE funding for mental health to in excess of €910 million this year. A Programme for a Partnership Government gives a clear commitment to increase mental health funding annually, as resources allow, to expand and modernise all aspects of services. The HSE currently employs 324 whole-time-equivalent consultant psychiatrists to support community and specialist mental health services throughout the country.

There are 26 non-specialist consultant psychiatrists working in the Health Service Executive. The majority of these appointments are temporary, pending posts being filled permanently with a specialist consultant psychiatrist. These consultants carry out their work in the context of relevant HSE consultant contracts.

The HSE has advised that since 2008, it has worked to recruit only consultant psychiatrists in the public health system with appropriate specialist training and competence to enable individual consultants to attain and maintain specialist registration with the Irish Medical Council. The stated aim of the executive is to employ consultant psychiatrists with the highest possible level of training and expertise.

In March 2008, the HSE amended the qualifications specified for consultant posts in the public health service to require registration in the relevant specialist division of the register of medical practitioners at the Medical Council. The rationale for the change was to ensure that consultants employed in the public health system have the appropriate training, skills, competences and qualifications to deliver care as assessed by the Medical Council.

Internationally, there is a shortage of medical doctors, including appropriately trained consultant psychiatrists. Many countries in Europe and across the world are significantly challenged to recruit adequate levels of appropriately trained doctors.

In recent years, the HSE has developed new services, as outlined in the national mental health policy, A Vision for Change. This requires increased numbers of specialist trained consultants. In the context of staff recruitment and retention challenges set against the expansion of consultant posts throughout the country, individual consultant posts are sometimes filled temporarily with consultants who may not be entered into the specialist registration of the Irish Medical Council. This occurs in circumstances where, following exhaustive searches, no specialist consultant has been available. It is done to ensure ongoing delivery and continuity of essential mental health services.

The majority of consultant psychiatrist recruitment challenges are experienced outside the large urban centres. A particular and acknowledged recruitment problem relates to staffing for the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, which the HSE is addressing on a priority basis. It should be noted that strategic priorities for mental health in the agreed HSE service plan 2018 include delivering a timely, "clinically effective and standardised safe service" together with developing highly trained staff within a modern infrastructure. The HSE mental health service is working closely with the HSE national doctors training and planning office and College of Psychiatrists of Ireland to increase the number of specialist training posts for psychiatrists. The intention is to create a larger potential pool of specialist consultants who can be trained in Ireland.

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