Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

A. To insert the following after "attainable standard of physical and mental health": "by ensuring that they are not being overmedicated due to shortages in staff across CAMHS, Primary Care and Early Intervention teams" B. To delete the words "broaden the CAMHS review to include" and substitute the following: "ensure the CAMHS review is independent and is broadened to include" C. To delete the words "immediately conduct a review” up to and including “resignation from the service;" and substitute the following:

"— immediately conduct an independent review, to be published, into the treatment of the South Kerry CAMHS whistleblower and the circumstances around their change in duties which led to their resignation from the service and also into any other whistleblowers in CAMHS;"

D. To delete the words "across CAMHS" after "put in place a proactive strategy for the recruitment and retention of psychologists" and substitute the following: ", speech and language therapists and occupational therapists across CAMHS, Early Intervention teams and Primary Care" E. To insert the following after "mental health services as agreed under Sláintecare":

"— invest in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure every school has a psychology team; and

— support those studying psychology, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy by removing fees for their primary degrees and post graduate studies and paying for their placements".

I commend Deputy Ward on his continuing work on mental health care. While we support the motion, we have also tabled an amendment and it is my understanding that Sinn Féin will accept it.

We have spoken about mental health care numerous times. It is extremely important regardless of age, particularly given what has happened in the past two years which have been a challenging time for everybody. Trust is the primary concern of people who use CAMHS services. It is the most important issue when a young person uses the CAMHS services. Intervention and advice are key at this time because the young person has to seek advice and intervention. Trust is the central axis of a relationship between a medical professional and a child or a person in any age group.

The situation in Kerry crossed the Rubicon because it was probably the most serious of breach of trust that can happen. Inappropriate prescribing of medications to children is as serious as it gets. Many people will be asking questions, for example, whether this practice is taking place in other CAMHS services. I hope it is not but obviously the review will look at that.

The review has to be completely independent of the HSE. I see the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is nodding, which is good. It must be completely independent of the HSE because for too long in this State the HSE and other civic bodies have investigated themselves. That is not good. Whistleblowers in other areas of the health service, particularly CAMHS, should be protected. They have done a public service in relation to misdemeanours that occur in all spheres of life. It is important that people can come forward, highlight what is going on in a service and express concerns about it.

Last week, I raised with the Minister for State a point related to the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care, which produced a report in 2018. One of its main recommendations was on the overmedication of children. This is a serious situation in the State. If we drill down through that, we find this was done to compensate for the lack of professional services for the children in question. That cannot continue because it undermines the services that children are trying to find. These are important policies that need to be addressed. We all want the best for our children, particularly at vulnerable times in their lives when early professional intervention is key. The policy of overmedicating children is extremely detrimental, not only to the child but also to their families.

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