Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the portion of the €35 million euro that was ring fenced for mental health services for the year 2012 that has been spent; if any unspent moneys will be carried forward to next year in addition to the 2013 funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51940/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Funding from the €35 million special allocation for mental health will be used primarily to further strengthen Community Mental Health Teams in both Adult and Children’s mental health services in respect of which €25 million has been estimated. Up to €3 million of the fund will be used to advance activities in the area of suicide prevention and a cost of €5 million has been estimated to initiate the provision of psychological and counselling services in primary care, specifically for people with mental health problems. The remaining €2 million will be made available to facilitate the re-location of mental health service users from institutional care to more independent living arrangements in their communities, in line with A Vision for Change.

414 posts were approved to implement the €35 million package of special measures for mental health. To date 14 posts have been filled and over 270 offers of employment have already been accepted and the appointments are proceeding. Most start dates are expected to be in December 2012 to allow for the process of checking references etc. and costs will start to be incurred from that point. The Government remains committed to engaging these professionals as soon as is feasible and the work of completing the process remains a priority.

The provisional outturn for mental health services to mid-year was, like many other areas, running ahead of budget and the end of year excess in this area will be met from the unexpended portion of the €35 million. The Department is currently in the process of working out the Health Estimates for expenditure in 2013 and in mental health it is planned to provide sufficient resources to meet the cost of commitments entered into in 2012 in respect of the posts described above and related costs in 2013.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the reason that the Child and Mental Health Service will not accept children aged between 17 and 18 years of age with mental health issues for admission until January 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51941/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The development of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) has been prioritised by the HSE in recent years and considerable progress has been made to date.

A special allocation of €35 million was provided in Budget 2012 for mental health, in line with commitments in the Programme for Government. Funding from this special allocation will be used primarily to strengthen Community Mental Health Teams in both Adult and Children’s mental health services by ensuring, at a minimum, that at least one of each mental health professional discipline is represented on every team. Of the 414 posts approved to implement the €35 million package, 150 will be allocated to Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Teams of which 3 posts are filled and 84 posts have been accepted and candidates are currently going through the clearance processes. It is hoped that the bulk of the appointments will be made by the end of the year. It is envisaged that the completion of the multidisciplinary profile of current teams will help progress the expansion of CAMHS to all up to 18 years and reduce the waiting lists for this service.

The Deputy may also wish to note that the HSE has recently finalised "Access Protocols for 16 and 17 year olds to Mental Health Services" and these have been approved by the Management Team and will come into effect from 1 January next. In an effort to ensure that children are treated in an age appropriate manner, the new protocol provides that from 1 January 2013, CAMHS will at least accept referrals of all new cases of children up to their 17th birthday, and from 1 January 2014 or earlier where feasible CAMHS will accept referrals of all new cases of children up to their 18th birthday. Some of the teams are already accepting children up to 18, of which some can only do so on a case by case basis, but all teams continue to see open cases beyond their 16th birthday. The additional resources currently coming on stream will advance progress in this area.