Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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2561. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which he expects to be in a position to address the serious deficiencies in child, adolescent and adult mental health services with particular reference to the need to ensure that adequate treatments placements are readily available to meet the demand which has increased in recent times; if provision will be made to offer comprehensive services to young persons with eating disorders or addictions notwithstanding current practice; if a study will be undertaken of individual cases currently seeking or availing of treatment throughout north County Kildare and south west Dublin CHO7; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38119/21]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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As this Parliamentary Question relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. However, members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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2562. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which it is expected to enhance the quality and scale of community and institutional mental health services with particular reference to the need to achieve quality of service in line with the requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38120/21]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Sharing the Vision aims to enhance the provision of mental health services and supports across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention to acute and specialist mental health service delivery, during the period 2020-2030.

The implementation monitoring of Sharing the Vision is being driven by the National Implementation Monitoring Committee (NIMC), which was established in December 2020. The NIMC is made up of the NIMC Steering Committee, which will be supported by a NIMC Reference Group of Service Users and Families and NIMC Specialist Groups. I am satisfied that the NIMC is developing appropriate monitoring and oversight processes and structures.

The HSE Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Office is represented on the NIMC Steering Committee, which together with the development of a NIMC Reference Group of Service Users and Families will ensure that the voice of the service user and their families and carers remains central to quality service delivery and improvement.

The €23 million allocated to the early implementation of Sharing the Vision in 2021 is dedicated to enhanced resources for community mental health teams, CAMHS hubs/teams, adult crisis resolution services, increased supports in employment, peer support workers, bereavement co-ordination, and dialectical behaviour therapy.

In relation to quality of service, the Quality Framework for Mental Health Services in Ireland (Mental Health Commission, 2007), the Judgement Support Framework (Mental Health Commission, 2015), and the Best Practice Guidance for Mental Health Services (HSE, 2017) all play an important role in continuous improvement and measurement/monitoring of desired standards and practices in mental healthcare in Ireland. Sharing the Vision recommends that future updates of the Quality Framework, the Judgement Support Framework and the Best Practice Guidance should be consistent with the ambition and the specific outcomes for the mental health system set out in the policy.

Moreover, Sharing the Vision recommends that a standardised set of performance indicators (PIs) directly aligned with the desired outcomes in the policy and agreed standards of care and quality frameworks should be developed by the Department of Health and the NIMC accounting for quantitative and qualitative delivery of intended outcomes.

Furthermore, Sharing the Vision recommends the continued phased implementation and evaluation of existing national clinical programmes in mental health, including Dual Diagnosis, Early Intervention in Psychosis, and Eating Disorders. The clinical programmes, which are in various stages of design and implementation, are at the heart of service improvement. They provide clear pathways to ensure strategic, standardised and evidence-based delivery of services and better outcomes for service users and their families.

Under the Health Act 2004 (as amended) the Department of Health has an oversight role in relation to the HSE. The Department has been implementing new performance oversight arrangements since 2020. This includes reporting on Quality and Patient Safety for Mental Health, with a view to continual improvement of this key area in all respects.