Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, in regard to the number of referrals relating to primary care psychology, progressing disability services, PDS, teams and CAMHS, getting 33% more referrals is massive for any system. I compliment all the teams on the ground because they saw 21% more children last year with the same levels of staffing and issued 225,000 appointments. CAMHS is there for children and young people with moderate to acute mental health needs and they need a primary diagnosis to avail of it. Some children will have a secondary diagnosis of autism, an intellectual disability or something else.

As for primary care psychology, we have been running over the past two years a targeted initiative to remove long waiters from the list, but for every child for whom we do that, two more present in their place. Their needs are more complex, so it is taking more time for them to come through the system.

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