Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The officials will be with me tomorrow for the debate on mental health. I hope the Cathaoirleach will not take time from me now.

I apologise to Senator Freeman; I was not aware that I was to take the first matter. Hopefully we will be able to resolve that. I thank the Senator for her contribution. She has represented the people of Ireland regarding mental health for some time and I know she will continue to do an excellent job representing them in her new position. I wish her the very best.

The area of mental health continues to be a priority for the Government and, as the Senator correctly pointed out, for all people within the Seanad and Leinster House. This is reinforced by the fact that funding for mental health this year will increase by €41 million, or just over 5%, to approximately €826 million, as indicated in the HSE national service plan.

The reduction in the number of children admitted to adult psychiatric units has been a priority in recent years and I assure the Senator that it continues to be a priority. Progress has been significant. The Senator mentioned that the number increased by five last year. However, in 2008 was it 247, and declined to approximately 95 last year. We are making progress, albeit that last year there was a slight increase. This is despite increasing demands on child and adolescent mental health services overall. Such admissions are made for a number of reasons, including distance from particular centres - with families not wanting their children to be sent 40 km, 50 km or 60 km away - the timing of admissions late at night, possible medical issues, substance misuse issues, family concerns and overall safety.

It is the policy of the HSE to provide an age-appropriate service, with a significant majority of young people now being treated by child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, teams. While figures for 2015 show 95 admissions of children to adult psychiatric units, the number of admissions does not necessarily equate to the actual number of children admitted, as a child may be admitted on more than one occasion in any given year. In 2015 there were 356 CAMHS admissions, of which 73% were to age-appropriate units and 27% to adult units. The HSE works proactively to reduce both the number of and length of stay relating to such admissions.

We are certainly not ignoring the issue. While there was a reduction to 95 in the number of admissions of children to adult units, it is not acceptable for any child to be in that position. Admissions of this nature should only take place when absolutely necessary. We need to get to a position where zero children are admitted to adult units. There has been a significant increase in CAMHS bed numbers in the past 12 months, which is where I think we can see an improvement, with 66 operational beds at present. This improvement has been further assisted by weekly management of available beds nationally. An example of progress is where an additional consultant resource has recently provided to the Eist Linn unit in Cork, which will bring the capacity there closer to 20 in the coming months. I hope the number will increase and surpass 66, which would help to improve the position.

The HSE continues to roll out protocols for the placement of 16 to 18 year olds in line with the age appropriate placements, as local operational issues allow. In regard to youth mental health, a continuation of investment in primary care responses to mental health, including the counselling services, Jigsaw projects, of which we have three rolling out this year in Cork, Limerick and Dublin, and early intervention approaches, is being developed. The question of further enhancing youth mental health services in the forthcoming budget will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Estimates process for 2017. Currently, I am establishing a youth mental health task force to consider how best to assist our young people in developing resilience and coping skills to support their emotional well being at an early stage. I hope that task force will be launched in mid July before we break for the recess.

I assure the Senator I have taken on board the concerns raised. I understand where the Senator is coming from and I look forward to working with her to, hopefully, improve the service.