Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The e-mental health project was launched by the Tánaiste in mid-2020. Two main elements were identified for development as part of the Castlerea hub: a CAMHS Connect telehealth service and CAMHS day hospital. In addition, a psychiatry of later life day hospital was also identified.

Work was progressed by the HSE through 2020, including capital works and initial recruitment of staff. This involved expenditure in the region of €400,000 for refurbishment and €400,000 for staff. The hub was further developed in 2021 in the context of overall funding allocated for mental health that year, including further recruitment of staff. For 2021, 14 posts are approved, with €1.4 million in revenue allocated. This is real money. It is there to hire staff and there was no ambiguity about that. For 2021, 14 posts are approved and it is expected to be fully staffed in 2022. It is the first of its kind nationally and will form the core of the new Castlerea mental health hub across HSE West.

In response to the Deputy's question, the CAMHS day hospital is operating on a seven-day basis and currently serves counties Mayo and Roscommon. The team is flexible and provides intensive home-based treatment and assertive outreach, as required, which has been very important over the past two years when we have had the challenges of Covid. Provision of evidence-informed psychological and talking therapies form the cornerstone of supports provided, which include family therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and similar service approaches.

The HSE indicates that the latest position on the CAMHS Connect service and day hospital is that approval has been received at community healthcare organisation, CHO, level for the following posts: consultant psychiatrist, non-consultant hospital doctor, NCHD, advanced nurse practitioner, ANP, senior social worker, clinical nurse specialist, senior psychologist and senior occupational therapist. The consultant, NCHD, ANP, and senior social worker for this team have all been recruited and the remaining three posts are at an advanced stage of recruitment. This facility has core mental health staff and telepsychiatry facilities to enable remote consultations. This is essential for Roscommon, which has experienced significant difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff.

On the psychiatry of later life day hospital, an NCHD and a senior psychologist have been recruited. The remaining posts are going through the recruitment process at present and will be filled as soon as possible. These posts are for a consultant psychiatrist, advanced nurse practitioner, social worker, clinical nurse specialist and a senior occupational therapist. We have to point out that the HSE is experiencing challenges in recruiting staff across mental health and, more broadly and in fact, this is an international issue as well. All these positions are funded. The €1.4 million was allocated to put in place all these staff in the Castlerea hub.

The psychiatry of later life day hospital will provide medical, nursing, occupational therapy, social work and psychology services.

The aim is for the day hospital to be the new base for the team and to provide a service five days a week. It also aims to provide a service to Roscommon-north Galway and to provide separate programmes for those with functional mental health difficulties and those with dementia who attend on different days. On the broader front, the development of all aspects of our mental health services nationally remain a priority for me.

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