Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of CAMHS in Dublin 15. A priority for the Government and the HSE is ensuring appropriate and accessible mental health services for children and that services are provided in the most accessible manner for those who require them. In the recent budget an additional €55 million was provided to progress new developments in mental health services this year. It brings overall HSE mental health services funding to nearly €1 billion in 2019. The HSE service plan for 2019 commits to further development of CAMHS against a background where the population of children and the demand for the specialist service are increasing.

All aspects of CAMHS nationally are being improved by the HSE. They include better access, reducing waiting lists and strengthening links with other services such as primary or disability care services. Access is based on a professional clinical assessment and urgent cases are prioritised. Around 18,000 referrals are expected for HSE CAMHS in 2019. The number of referrals to CAMHS has increased from around 10,700 in 2011. There are widely acknowledged difficulties in recruiting and retaining specialist CAMHS staff, particularly consultant psychiatrists.

The HSE indicates that there is a treating consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist working in the Dublin 15 area. There is no consultant psychiatrist in place on the Castleknock team, owing to illness, as the Deputy rightly mentioned. However, there are two psychiatry registrars working on the CAMHS team who are qualified to prescribe appropriate medication. They have access to consultant colleagues on other teams within Dublin north city and county CAMHS, should it be required.

Concerted efforts have and will continue to be made by the HSE mental health service to recruit a locum consultant, notwithstanding the shortage of consultant psychiatrists nationally. Another factor to be taken into account in this instance is the increasing and more complex nature of the demand for services, particularly CAMHS. I understand there were 1,631 referrals by CAMHS teams across Dublin north city and county in 2018.

Opportunities to continue to develop services that will treat children and adolescents at the lowest level of complexity, thus avoiding the need for specialist interventions, remain challenging. The executive is focusing on the consolidation of earlier interventions and building more proactive services at primary care level, rather than secondary specialist mental health services for children and adolescents. Developing these services will also enhance community teams to ensure higher quality services for those individuals with higher acuity and greater need.

I ensured that there were various new initiatives agreed to in the HSE service plan 2019 to bring about change in a way we could promote youth mental health and deliver services, particularly at prevention and early intervention levels, thus helping to reduce pressures on the specialist CAMHS. The measures include new digital mental health services, improved supports for relevant sports, community and voluntary groups active in this sphere and expanded out-of-hours CAMHS provision.

The Deputy raised three important cases. From the point of view of a family or young person, waiting three months is not good enough. I totally accept this and will push to address the matter. The Deputy also highlighted the issue in Corduff.

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