Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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This Government remains committed to developing all aspects of mental health services nationally, including CAMHS, under the HSE Service Plan 2023. Over €1.2 billion has been provided this year for mental health, and dedicated funding for CAMHS is administered as part of the overall HSE Mental Health allocation each year.

The 35 recommendations arising from the Maskey report reviewing South Kerry CAMHS care is helping to improve all aspects of CAMHS care nationally. The latest HSE implementation framework contains a total of 63 actions (local and national) against the 35 recommendations. The 35 recommendations led to 63 actions, 19 of which (national and local) have been implemented, with others underway.

To provide assurance to those who use CAMHS, the HSE has commissioned independent national audits in relation to: prescribing practice, compliance with Operational Guidelines, and research into service user experiences of CAMHS. Good progress is being made on each of these audits. In addition, the HSE is undertaking a Look Back review of CAMHS cases in North Kerry.

The Mental Health Commission are also undertaking an audit of all 73 CAMHS teams nationally. An Interim Report was published on 23 January last covering 5 of the 9 CHOs. The Government and the HSE has accepted the findings and recommendations of the recently published Interim Report of the Commission and is progressing consequent actions as appropriate. The final Mental Health Commission Report is expected in the near future.

In light of the above, it is not planned to establish the type of inquiry proposed by the Deputy.