Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over the past couple of years, I have raised many issues with the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, in regard to mental health services in the north west, in particular CAMHS. He is well aware of the situation there. It is probably at 50% capacity and has been that way for a long time. This is having a major impact on families and young people who run into difficulties. The service is, at best, a skeleton service. Often, nobody answers when people telephone the service.

A gentleman spoke to me recently about his child who is on medication that has to be reviewed every six months. He cannot even make contact by telephone with the CAMHS unit to make an appointment to have that medication reviewed. When he made contact, he was told to contact his GP. The GP told that him that because he did not prescribe the medication, he could not review it. This is the type of problem that exists in our mental health services.

We also have a serious issue in regard to the school-age psychiatrist service. It is non-existent as well. When a psychiatrist is available, he or she is only available for a short time. A child might meet a psychiatrist once a week for six or eight weeks and having built up trust, the psychiatrist is replaced by a locum to do the same job again. This inconsistency is causing significant difficulties.

On adult services, I welcome the proposed new mental health unit for Sligo University Hospital. It is hoped it will be open this time next year. However, there will be 12% fewer beds in that unit than currently exist, which means a decrease in capacity. At the same time, owing to staffing issues, there has not, and will not be, a service in the community. When I talk to officials in the HSE and the mental health services, they say they cannot find staff to fill vacant positions. They are very frustrated with the situation. We need a new focus and a redirection of energy and, particularly, resources to ensure that we provide for the people who need this service, particularly those in the north west and the Sligo region, which is in serious crisis in regard to mental health services. I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, about this and I know he is doing his best but, at the end of the day, somewhere or other there is a blockage in the system that is not delivering for people. That blockage needs to be removed.

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