Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ward for his question. The Deputy will be aware that the Mental Health Commission is an independent statutory body established under the Mental Health Act 2001. The commission’s principal functions are to promote, encourage and foster the establishment and maintenance of high standards and good practices in the delivery of mental health services and to take all reasonable steps to protect the interests of persons detained in approved centres under the Act.

As the Mental Health Commission is an independent body, and in light of the fact that the commission has not completed its final review, the specific issues raised by the Deputy are, in the first instance, a matter for detailed consideration by the Mental Health Commission and the Health Service Executive. Any actions arising by the commission will, in the first instance, be raised by the Mental Health Commission with the HSE.

I understand the commission has completed a review of the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, in five community health organisations, CHOs, with four to be completed, and one of those four has already commenced. As is normally the case with relevant Mental Health Commission inspections and reports, any commission concerns brought to the attention of the HSE are addressed directly by the executive.

I met with the Mental Health Commission in the past month and it told me it had raised concerns with the HSE in relation to matters that had been raised during the audit of the five CHOs. I look forward to receiving the reports from the Mental Health Commission when they are completed and formally submitted to me. To date, I have not received anything in writing.

The Deputy will be aware that the independent report of the review of care provided by south Kerry CAMHS, the Maskey report, made findings regarding significant failures across multiple levels of the system. This has led to an independent audit by the HSE and a subsequent review by the Mental Health Commission.

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