Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State again for this result, for his comprehensive understanding of the situation and for his engagement in recent times. I welcome the fact that the position has been filled on a locum basis in the past week. I tabled this Topical Issue matter two weeks ago but the slot was not available so I am delighted the position has been filled. It is important that there is a service, albeit it is not the silver bullet service that we might want, as the Minister of State mentioned. It is important that people in an area who require that service can access it when they want.

I also welcome the Minister of State's initiative of a teleservice. No matter what the area of difficulty, I have always felt that we needed to look beyond the normal and traditional ways of doing things and a teleservice is definitely something to consider for the future. The Carlow area could be considered and I will definitely take that issue up with my CHO area. It is something that could be piloted in as many areas around the country as possible so that people will have access to that service. My genuine initial concern was that service users would not have their service plan reviewed and they might have to deal with the same medication for months without being reviewed which I would consider to be dangerous. I am delighted that has changed and that there is a little bit more certainty for the service users that they will have a system available to them. Going forward, there needs to be something more definite and better planned so that they will be able to go in whenever they have an appointment and see the same face. Continuity is important from a mental health point of view so that a patient is not starting from scratch with a clean slate every time a new issue arises.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and his interest in the matter and I will continuously engage with him on it over the next period and I will take up the initiative with my CHO area as we progress.

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