Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising the issue of counselling for children in primary care. Psychology services in primary care settings can play a key role in promoting good mental health. There are high rates of mental health problems among young people, and the research shows adolescence and early adulthood is the peak time for the onset of such issues. One in five young people have been found to have a diagnosable mental disorder at any one time. Given the scale of this challenge, it is essential that adolescents and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs should be able to access services in their local communities in a timely manner. Those with more severe mental health difficulties will require referral to secondary care services.

To address the current waiting lists for psychology services in primary care settings, additional Government funding of €5 million has been made available for the recruitment of 20 staff grade psychologists and 114 assistant psychologists. I understand that the vast majority of these posts were filled during the first quarter of this year, and there should be progress in more young patients being seen, and being seen more quickly.

It is also important to acknowledge the progress that has been made, and there has been a reduction in the numbers of children waiting for access to counselling services in primary care since July 2017, although I agree that much more needs to be done. As well as additional investment, the HSE is also examining the scope for improved ways of working through a service improvement initiative for counselling in primary care. These new ways of working include: standardised psychology protocols; a single point of contact for all non-crisis and non-complex emotional and behavioural referrals; and assistance for service users in stepping "up to" and "down from" more specialist health services. Other options to tackle waiting lists are also being pursued, including a computerised cognitive behavioural therapy programme. This programme utilises new technologies, delivering supports through weekly sessions based around a computer, with a healthcare professional as support.

Such developments build upon the investment in mental health services over recent years. I am sure the Senator and others Members will join me in welcoming the fact that funding made available for suicide prevention has more than tripled from €3.7 million in 2010 to €12 million this year, while the overall mental health budget has increased by €200 million since 2012 to more than €900 million today.

The Government acknowledges that waiting lists for counselling services for children in primary care are too high. That is why additional funding has been provided for psychology and assistant psychology posts, and the number of children waiting for services should now reduce further as these posts start to make an impact on access times for services. This investment and the service improvements I have outlined will facilitate further advancements within primary care and help improve and enhance the lives of young people who suffer mental illness and that of their families.

I particularly welcome the Senator's approach. The focus has always been on the upper end of services, which is CAMHS. We can keep chasing the queues for these services and focus all our attention, resources and reactive remedies on them or we can examine what is causing this to happen and provide solutions. We can treat the symptoms or treat the cause. I very much believe in treating the cause and that is what the Senator is suggesting. We need to intercept these issues at an earlier stage and we need to be more proactive in our screening, which the Senator is seeking. We need to pick up the issues at a lower level of intervention in order that when people are treated, their care is not escalated to CAMHS. Much of the debate in the media and political circles is about treating people at that level. Some people need to be treated by consultant psychiatrists but many young people who seek access to mental health services do not need to see a consultant. It is only in recent weeks that we have completed the recruitment of 20 staff grade psychologists and 114 assistant psychologists into the system at primary care level specifically to treat teenagers and other young people and to pick up their issues at a lower level of intervention, as advised by the Senator, thus preventing them from being escalated to CAMHS and a consultant psychiatrist. We are making significant progress. Additional Jigsaw sites have been announced and we are trying to beef up the supports that it and many other service providers are offering, which is very significant and helpful in this area.