Written answers

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Department of Health

National Treatment Purchase Fund

Photo of Marc MacSharryMarc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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1157. To ask the Minister for Health if the National Treatment Purchase Fund can be used to reduce the length of time vulnerable children are waiting to be seen and receive a diagnosis by CAMHS in the Sligo Leitrim, south Donegal and west Cavan areas; if not, the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27056/17]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Health and the HSE are working hard, on a continuous basis, to improve the delivery of mental health services for children and the services have benefited from the significant additional investment in mental health in recent years. Additional funding in Budget 2017 has resulted in an overall provision of over €850 million for all HSE mental health services in 2017.

There are currently 67 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service teams, and three Paediatric Liaison Teams. Approximately 18,500 children will attend the CAMHS service this year.

There are difficulties in recruiting and retaining specialist CAMHS staff, particularly Consultant Psychiatrists. Intensive recruitment efforts are on-going but there is currently a serious shortage of suitably qualified CAMHS Consultants both at national and European level. It should be noted however that despite increasing CAMHS demands overall and the staffing difficulties, 68% of children referred to CAMHS are seen within twelve weeks. Over the past two years, the waiting list for over 12 months has reduced (from 455 cases to 279 in March 2017). As Primary Care services are usually the first point of contact for children and adolescents when problems initially present, those with mild to moderate presentations are seen by psychologists in the service, unless there is a significant risk of harm, a rapid deterioration or a crisis which requires a specialist response. In order to develop early intervention services for those under age 18, €5 million has been allocated to include recruitment of 114 Assistant Psychologists in primary care. These posts have now been sanctioned for recruitment.

It is important to remember that despite increasing demands overall on CAMHS, individual cases professionally assessed as requiring urgent access to services do receive priority.

The HSE Service Plan 2017, as a priority, will further develop CAMHS, including better out-of- hours liaison and seven-day response services.

It is not envisaged that the Waiting List initiatives due to be implemented by the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the HSE under its Waiting List Action Plans, will include mental health services.

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