Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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285. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to ensure all children and adolescents receive adequate mental health promotion, supports and early intervention in order to minimise the need for inpatient care. [12091/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The HSE Mental Health Division ( MHD) supports timely access to appropriate services to address the mental health needs of all children, from a preventative care model and early intervention perspective. It should be noted, however, that the response to mental health issues is not the sole remit of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), and may for example, be more appropriately addressed in other care areas, such as Primary Care, Disability Services, or linkages to other sectors such as Education.

Counselling is provided across the health service, by both the HSE and the voluntary sector including primary care, social care and within mental health. This type of service can be provided by a range of trained health professionals and delivered to meet a clinical need at either primary or secondary care level.

While a broad range of services support the mental health of children and adolescents, the term ‘CAMHS’ is usually applied very specifically to services that provide specialist mental health treatment and care to young people up to 18 years of age, through a multidisciplinary team. In 2016, the HSE National Service Plan objective for improved performance for the year is for 78% or greater of accepted referrals to Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Teams to be seen within three months. A targeted approach to addressing the needs of those waiting over 12 months, combined with maintaining targets for first appointments and seeing individuals within three months, is a priority for this year. In addition, the Executive last year launched a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for both in-patient and community based CAMHS provision, the purpose of which is to ensure that the delivery of services is carried out in a consistent and transparent manner and that the care and treatment offered reflects the identified clinical needs of the child - with a consistent level of clinical care across all regions.

The Government is progressing various new service priorities from additional funding including the continued development of counselling services across both primary and secondary care. This involves, for example, three new Jigsaw mental health services in Cork, Dublin city centre and Limerick; the continued expansion of Community Mental Health teams; improved 24/7 response and Liaison Services; better Psychiatry-of-Later Life mental health care; improved Perinatal Mental Health, and two new mental health Clinical Programmes, specifically relating ADHD in Adults and Children, and Dual Diagnosis of those with Mental Illness and Substance Misuse. My Department is currently examining proposals from the HSE relating to these new initiatives, as well as proposals for the ongoing development of a range of existing and new specialist mental health services. A decision on the release of new funding will be made shortly.

I will continue to progress and monitor all aspects of Mental Health care for young people to ensure the adequacy of the service to meet current and future demands.