Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In CHO 1, the Donegal region, there are 603 people waiting longer than 12 months whereas in CHO 2, the Galway region or the west of Ireland, there are 24. To go back to my earlier point, if someone presents to a hospital with an acute medical condition, they will get their surgery or intervention, they will get the medicine they need and they will get it pretty much straight away once they are inside the door of the hospital, primary care setting or secondary care setting. When it comes to mental health services for children and adolescents, that same level of urgency does not exist. The point made by the Mental Health Commission on the regulation of CAMHS is important because we need that consistency of approach. The Minister of State is saying that the revised mental health Bill should make provision for that. I am not sure where that Bill is or when it is supposed to come before us - I ask the Minister of State to respond to that question - but that provision needs to be nailed down. It is not fair that the people in Cork and Kerry have to wait so much longer than people in another part of the country. We should not have that inconsistency. The service should not discriminate against people based on their geography. We all face scenarios as public representatives, Deputies and Senators, on a daily basis where families approach us.

We pick up the phone to the chief officer of the CHO or whoever it might be. These are all inherently good people who want to help us. In some cases, it has taken my intervention with somebody of standing within the HSE on behalf of a family to get access to a service. Family members tell me about a young man or woman who has suicidal ideation and after my intervention, an appointment is made and the young person in question is back in the system. If the system were working correctly, it would not take an intervention by a Deputy, Senator or councillor for someone to get access to a service.

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