Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over the past couple of months I have been dealing with a family whose teenage daughter is being fed through a tube. When they reached out in desperation due to her eating disorder, they found that Éist Linn, Linn Dara and Merlin Park were unavailable to them because there are not enough beds. The simplest answer is that there should be more beds but there should be more consultants. The report that came out today by Dr. Seán Maskey mentions the difficulties with finding consultants. It is not good enough to say this when the support structures, support staff and equipment are not in place for doctors. That is one of the reasons consultants cannot be found.

This report contains devastating findings and exposes a lot that is wrong in our health service or lack of health service for some people. I spoke to another father today who told me that his daughter had social anxiety when she was transitioning into secondary school and went to see a doctor through CAMHS. Having read the report today and having received his apology, he feels sickened. It is soul-destroying, he said, to read the report. The family is devastated, angry and upset, not only because the structures were not in place but there was no care plan, no psychologist, no cognitive behavioural therapy, no oversight, no organisation, not even a shared diary. Referring to the south Kerry group as a team is a complete misnomer. Quite clearly the doctor who had got a reference from somebody, I do not know who, was working solo.

Children who did not even have ADHD were put on risperidone, an antipsychotic medication. One child, I was told, did not even recognise her parents, did not establish reality and did not know whether she was dreaming or it was reality when her parents would come into her room. Another parent told me his child went from 9 stone to 18 stone from when he was 15 to 17. I remember meeting that child and wondering how he had put on so much weight. He was suffering from depression and his weight increased. The scandal here is why were so many children put on risperidone. Why was that being carried out across the board? We do not know how much was known. Still with some of the parents there has been no intervention and there is still no care plan. That should be worked on.

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