Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Health the measures that will be put in place to tackle the difficulties in the provision of child and adolescent mental health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36538/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Mental Health Division of the HSE is committed to ensuring that all aspects of Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS) are delivered nationally in a consistent and timely fashion. A Vision for Change describes how services should be coordinated and integrated to meet the full range of social, psychological and physical care needs of children with mental health problems.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service is a key Service Improvement Project for the HSE. The project aims to improve access to and use of CAMHS In-patient, Day Hospital and Community based services, particularly in the context of agreed protocols governing the area of 16-17 year olds. The first meeting of a multi-disciplinary Group established to progress this project took place this month, and it is intended that meetings will be held on a monthly basis. The Group has also met with the Management Teams of all four CAMHS In-Patient units, to review various operational issues including eliminating any restrictions inhibiting full operational bed usage in certain circumstances.

In June of this year, the operational capacity of the Child and Adolescent Acute Inpatient Units was 56 beds. However, due to building works and temporary difficulties arising from loss of certain staff in three of the CAMHS Units, capacity nationally has reduced to 46. It is planned that these issues will be resolved as quickly as possible, and that capacity will increase to 58 by year-end. In addition, construction work is continuing on a new 22 Bed unit at the Cherry Orchard Hospital site in Dublin, which will be completed in September 2015. Where required, and if no public bed is available, in-patient beds are utilised in private hospitals. There are also a small number of children that may require placement outside of the State, where this is deemed to be the best service option in such cases.

It should be noted also that the HSE Mental Health Division is placing particular focus at the moment on overcoming certain issues to improve recruitment and retention rates for Consultant Psychiatrists.

As part of development funding prioritised by this Government since 2012 for mental health overall, upwards of 230 new posts have been allocated to Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Teams. This additional investment is intended to enable CAMHS teams to cater for all age ranges up to 18 years. Area Mental Health Management Teams are now also in place across the country, to ensure a more seamless service between CAMHS and Adult Mental Health services.