Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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24. To ask the Minister for Health the action that will be taken to bolster mental health services in County Waterford and the south east following the decision of three consultant paediatric psychiatrists to resign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28185/18]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The pending resignation of three psychiatrists in the South East is currently being examined by the HSE with a view to minimising disruption of services. Last week, I met with national and local HSE representatives who assured me that they are exploring every possible option to ensure that the vacancies in the CAMHS services in the South East are filled and to ensure continuity of service.

Notwithstanding the global lack of availability of mental health specialists, the HSE is currently conducting an extensive advertising campaign to fill these vacancies. In terms of immediate cover, they have established weekend Consultant Paediatric Psychiatry clinics in Waterford by availing of support from Galway-based Consultants. In addition, the HSE has been in contact with other CHO areas and with agencies both abroad and in the private sector to look for locum cover.

I wish to strongly re-state the Government’s commitment to mental health. This is reflected by the allocation of an additional €200 million for mental health services since 2012 resulting in around €910 million being available to the HSE for mental health this year. While this amount is significant by any standard I will continue to press for further resources annually in line with Programme for Partnership Government commitments.

The HSE Service Plan 2018 commits to further development of CAMHS. This is against a background where the demand for CAMHS has increased by 26% between 2012 and 2017. Around 18,800 referrals are expected for HSE CAMHS this year alone.

To meet this demand, we have increased the supply of services. We have approved over 2,000 new posts in Mental Health since 2012. We now have 69 CAMHS teams and three Paediatric Liaison Teams supported by around 75 CAMHS beds nationally. Further beds are planned to come on-stream as quickly as possible. In addition, we have funded an extra 140 Psychiatric Nurse Undergraduate places each year.

The recent appointment by the HSE of around 114 Assistant Psychologists and 20 Psychologists will help to develop counselling services in Primary Care. I understand that 13 Assistant Psychologists posts have been introduced in CHO 5, which includes Waterford & Wexford. It is anticipated that these posts will deal with the less complex child and adolescent cases thereby reducing the demand on CAMHS.

I will be meeting the HSE again on 3 July next where they will provide me with a progress report on addressing the issue raised by the Deputy.