Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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609. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that persons suffering from mental health problems are given full access to emergency services on a 24-7 basis in all areas and that children under 18 years of age with mental health problems are not discriminated against in receiving age-appropriate emergency department and inpatient services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4662/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Improving access to mental health services is a key priority for me as Minister. Significant work is underway to improve access to services outside of normal working hours. The HSE is responsible for secondary care mental health services in Ireland. These are specifically for people with moderate to severe mental health problems / illnesses such as more serious depression, bipolar illness, schizophrenia or anxiety related disorders. Services are organised as age related specialty services, provided by multi-disciplinary teams, in line with A Vision For Change.The teams are Child and Adolescent, General Adult for working age adults, and Psychiatry-of-Old Age for those over 65 years, together with some sub-specialty teams, such as Rehabilitation / Recovery and Acute Hospital liaison teams. The work of these teams is supported by a network of day hospitals, and general hospital based acute in-patient units.

Data on timely access to services is collected for each team on a monthly basis. This shows 68% of children referred are seen within twelve weeks, and 74% of working age adults, and 97% of older adults within one week, illustrating improved response times to those with mental health problems. Work is underway by the HSE Mental Health Division to determine the existing level of service provision, and to examine international models of best practice on the most appropriate model of service delivery for use in the Irish context in order to enhance access to seven day services. In addition, the HSE is progressing a detailed plan for provision of 7 day services across all HSE mental health service areas.

Significant and detailed work is underway in this area. The current provision of HSE 24/7 mental health care involves various inter-linked components involving, for example, access via Community Mental Health teams during normal working hours (i.e. 9am-5pm Monday to Friday). During this period, access may also be made through Emergency Departments, involving as necessary the existing Liaison Psychiatric Service for hospitals, or alternative arrangements at local level pending further development of a liaison service in some CHO areas. There is Consultant Psychiatric-led cover in place in hospital Emergency Departments, in respect of the hours 5pm to 9am Monday to Friday, and for the weekend period. Finally, the National Clinical Programme for the Assessment and Management of Self-Harm was initiated by the HSE in 2014, and is being developed on an on-going basis. Overall, the HSE indicate that weekend access for each Saturday and Sunday is provided in 9 of the 17 mental health areas, with a further 7 areas having partial cover.

The HSE has prioritised the provision of improved Out-of-Hours liaison and seven day responses for mental health as a key priority under its agreed Service Plan 2017. Services, in respect of both adults and those under age 18, are being developed in the light of significant new investment being made available for mental health, balanced against an acknowledged difficulty for the Executive in securing suitably qualified and experienced staff for this care programme. My objective, and that of the HSE , is to improve all aspects of mental health care nationally for children and adults, including better access outside of normal working hours, or via Emergency Departments.