Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am satisfied with the measures now being taken by the HSE in respect of north Kerry CAMHS. When all this happened in February of this year, I moved very quickly to work with the HSE to put in place these three audits and the review through the Mental Health Commission. We cannot lose sight of that. There is a process in place. The process is set out under the terms of the audit being carried out by the HSE. What I requested at that stage across all 73 CAMHS teams was a sample random audit because I knew that it had worked in south Kerry. Fifty files were audited and they showed immediately that there were issues. Then Dr. Maskey performed a full look-back into, if my memory serves me right, about 1,250 files. We should also note that there were 500 files of children who were medicated where no harm was caused to them. It is important to say that.

I have to await the outcomes of these and the other audits on CAMHS nationally that are under way, including the review by the Mental Health Commission. This will help to inform any next steps necessary in respect of CAMHS in Kerry or elsewhere. I want to build back confidence in the CAMHS teams. We have 73 teams in operation at the moment. We will have a 74th team in Wexford very soon. It is important to state, however, that 2% of children who are referred through a GP or a primary care centre may need the support of CAMHS. A huge amount of really good, positive work is being done by multidisciplinary CAMHS teams the length and breadth of the country. It is really important that I try to support those teams to continue to do the really good work they have done, notwithstanding the issues we have. The focus for me, the Department and the HSE is to complete as quickly as possible the various audits now under way along with monitoring take-up of the compensation scheme. This will all help inform the next steps necessary. I will keep this under constant review.

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