Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response. She should absolutely go to every single CAMHS team to find out what the best practice is and have it replicated around the country. This should be standard procedure. However, for those 763 kids who are waiting more than a year for a CAMHS appointment, that is not what their parents or guardians want to hear. They want to know when their child is going to be seen. I am deeply concerned because not only do we have this exploding CAMHS list on one hand, we also have hundreds of children waiting more than a year for psychology. These children are presenting with distress and a very clear need. They either have to go to CAMHS or psychology. It is one or the other, but both these lists appear to be growing at an exponential rate and that is simply not good enough.

I want to see waiting lists coming down if it means children have been given the service they need. That is the critical part of this. When we look at numbers, the financial is important but the level of delivery is more important, the level of kids who are being seen and getting services. Again, I must put it to the Minister of State it cannot be best practice that CAMHS does not keep a record of the number of children it does not see. Where are these kids going? Have they simply gone from one list to another as they were not on the first list because CAMHS refused to see them?

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