John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter which I am taking on behalf of Minister of State, Deputy Daly, who is unavailable this evening. I will relay the points made by the Deputy directly to him because mental health services and funding thereof are serious issues that need to be dealt with.

Significant additional Government funding since 2012 has provided for approximately 1,700 new development posts for mental health services, including the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Budget 2019 provided an additional €55 million to progress new developments in mental health this year, bringing overall HSE mental health funding to approximately €1 billion. This, in turn, will allow for continued improvement to all aspects of mental health care services across the nine HSE community healthcare organisations, including CHO 8, which incorporates County Louth.

Enhancement of the specialist CAMHS service, including improved access and reducing waiting lists, remains a priority for Government and the HSE. The total number of children on the HSE CAMHS waiting list was approximately 2,580 in February 2019, inclusive of just over 300 who are waiting over 12 months. Cases assessed as urgent are seen as a matter of priority. As of February 2019, approximately 80% of young people were offered a first appointment within 12 weeks in community CAMHS settings. At that time, 98% of young people were seen within 12 months by community CAMHS services. There are now 70 CAMHS teams, three paediatric liaison teams and 74 CAMHS inpatient beds in four acute units nationally, with additional beds planned in the new children’s hospital and at the new national forensic mental health complex now being built at Portrane. In CHO 8, there were 345 people on the CAMHS waiting list, which is down from 358 in the same period last year. Waiting lists in CAMHS above 12 months posed a significant challenge during 2018. However, since the recent commencement of a sixth CAMHS team this issue has been actively addressed by the HSE to the extent that within nine months the waiting list for those over 12 months dropped from 57 children to seven.

Currently, the provision of a CAMHS service to north Louth is provided from the child and family centre in Drogheda. Louth-Meath mental health services are currently examining a new town centre location in Dundalk with a view to providing improved CAMHS to north Louth. The HSE is hopeful that this will come on-stream towards the end of this year. Staffing in CAMHS teams in Louth is above the national average. One of the CAMHS teams has a consultant vacancy, which as the Deputy mentioned is currently filled by a locum. The post has been approved by the HSE and it will be filled as soon as possible.

Louth-Meath mental health services continue to improve the level and quality of service being delivered and the environs in which this is done. It supports clients in their recovery and rehabilitation as close as possible to their homes and communities. All of this is being done within the resources available. The recently agreed HSE service plan for 2019 outlines the priorities and actions to enhance mental health care nationally this year. This relates also to CHO 8 and County Louth and encompasses a range of services covering acute or community-based CAMHS, general adult services and psychiatry-of-late-life. In addition, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, has progressed a number of mental e-health initiatives aimed at boosting the supply of services at primary care level. While the service plan also acknowledges widely accepted challenges to developing services, including increasing demands and difficulties around staff recruitment and retention, the objective of the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, and the HSE, is to deliver overall service improvements for Louth this year.

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