Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am aware of the issues raised last week in the RTÉ "Drivetime" programme. The health and safety of children in CAMHS should remain the concern of us all. The independent Maskey report of the review of care provided by south Kerry CAMHS made findings regarding significant failings across multiple levels of the system and made 35 recommendations to improve service delivery.

Those recommendations cover a broad range of areas, such as the re-establishment of trust in CAMHS, governance of the service, delivery of clinical services, improved clinical practice and the use of information and communications technology to support the delivery of services. The Government and the HSE are committed to implementing the recommendations as quickly as possible. At the moment 16 of the 35 recommendations are in place.

Deputy Daly said to me that a full review is not under way. Actually, it is, as a full review of all 73 CAMHS teams across the country is under way.

To provide assurance to those who use CAMHS, I requested the HSE to commission national audits in respect of prescribing practice, compliance with the HSE CAMHS operational guidelines and research on service users' and key stakeholders' experiences of CAMHS. Those are three independent audits. Independently chaired by Dr. Colette Halpin, the audit of prescribing practice in CAMHS is undertaken by an expert team, which is administratively supported by the HSE national centre for clinical audit and community operations. Following an initial pilot phase, the full national audit commenced in July. Data analysis has now commenced, with findings to be summarised in a final report prepared by the expert team.

This all came about, as Deputy Daly will know, because of the situation in south Kerry CAMHS. The HSE is conducting three individual audits. Also, and this is important, I requested that the Mental Health Commission, which is independent of both me and the HSE, undertake a review of all 73 CAMHS teams across the country. When both report I will have two parallel reports, which I think will give me great data I never had previously.

As for the situation in north Kerry, I believe that the random sample audit works. The reason we know it works is that it worked in south Kerry. We did a random sample audit of 50 files. Dr. Maskey identified at that time that significant harm had been done to children and that other children were also affected. As a result of that, a full look-back was done. However, I have to wait for the results of the random sample audit files, whether it is north Kerry, Waterford, Galway or Dublin, to see the results. If then a full look-back is required, I will make sure that happens. I have to go by the procedures Dr. Maskey put in place because I know they work. They worked in south Kerry. Fifty sample files showed there were issues. We will have to await the results of this.

Furthermore, massive supports have been put in place. The HSE continues to engage with families locally, including the Kerry CAMHS family support group, on care and any other issues generally relating to the Maskey report. Those affected can contact the HSE, as the Deputy will know.

Furthermore, and I will come back to the Deputy in my supplementary response, I travelled to Tralee in August and launched the youth advocacy programme, YAP, for all users of CAMHS in south and north Kerry who want to advocate for themselves with the support of their parents. An independent advocacy group is in place to support all service users of CAMHS.

See this speech in context