Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1365. To ask the Minister for Health the actions being taken to expand access to mental health services given the high rates of mental illness in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3582/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The provision of mental health services is in the main a matter for the Health Service Executive and I have requested the executive to respond to the Deputy directly in this regard.

However from a policy and budgetary point of view the Deputy may also be interested to note the following progress in enhancing all aspects of our mental health services and supports. This remains a key priority for the new Government, building on the significant improvements in the delivery of our mental health services over the past number of years. Service improvement and development will continue throughout this year and into the future. I have outlined in my below response some of the key achievements in mental health in recent years.

The Government’s clear commitment to enhancing mental health services, is shown by significant mental health funding increases in recent years. I am pleased to have secured an unprecedented level of funding, and the total allocation for mental health services for 2025 is almost €1.5bn, a record funding level. Mental health funding has increased by over 44% since I took office in 2020.

This investment will continue to support the implementation of our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision, and Connecting for Life, our national suicide reduction strategy, across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention, through to specialist mental health services.

Investment this year focuses on child and youth mental health, including targeted initiatives that support children and young people as they transition from child to adult mental health services, to ensure that they can continue to access the supports that they need.

This increase in funding for mental health services represents a significant investment which will enable continued policy implementation and service improvement in line with our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. StV is Ireland’s 10-year ambitious, multifaceted national mental health policy to enhance the provision of mental health services. The policy recognises the need for a whole-of-population, whole-of-government approach to the delivery of mental health services. It builds on the achievements of A Vision for Change, with a focus on a wider, cross-sectoral service provision appropriate to whole population needs.

In line with Sláintecare, the policy aims to provide “the right care in the right place at the right time”. 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 latest Implementation Status Report (November 2024) provides an overview of progress against the StV Implementation Plan 2022-2024 across the entire policy. Prepared by the joint NIMC Steering Committee and HIG secretariats, it is the thirteenth status report and serves as the end of term report for the first three years of policy implementation.

The Department of Health and HSE are in the process of developing the next Implementation Plan to guide delivery of the policy, which will cover the period from 2025-2027.

Connecting for Life (CfL) is Ireland’s national suicide prevention strategy. The Strategy focuses on the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour and addresses a broad range of risk and protective factors. CfL has been running for 9 years, and an evaluation of its implementation is currently nearing completion. The Department of Health and HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention are actively developing a successor strategy, which will be completed by year-end 2025.

The Connecting for Life implementation structures remain in place until the successor strategy is complete. Examples of continuing work in this area includes the launch this month of Preventing suicide in public places, a toolkit/framework to guide public sector agencies on effective measures that can prevent deaths by suicide in public places.

In addition, the Government remains committed to developing all aspects of mental health services nationally, including those for children and young people. Approximately €159 million is provided to the specialist CAMHS annually. Over €110 million was provided to community-based mental health organisations last year, with a significant proportion of this dedicated to supporting children and young people.

The HSE has over recent years invested in ‘upstream’ youth mental health services, including Jigsaw and other agencies who are provide enhanced services for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties who do not need to access specialist care such as CAMHS.

Under the HSE National Service Plan 2025, CAMHS expects to receive approximately 24,100 referrals this year, of which approximately 13,500 of these referrals are expected to be seen by CAMHS in line with operational guidelines.

Under Budget 2025, €2.9 million was allocated for CAMHS service developments, including the expansion of CAMHS hubs, additional CAMHS ED liaison supports, additional staffing for CAMHS teams, and funding to enhance the FRC Counselling Therapeutic Framework, the expansion of the Single Point of Access for community paediatric services, including CAMHS.

Funding allocated to mental health services in recent years has allowed for the continued investment in the mental health national clinical programmes and models of care, which has led to significant service improvements, including the aim to develop high-quality, person-centred, integrated care through a clinician-led, evidence-based approach to service reform, including the on-going expansion of specialist mental health teams for eating disorders, ADHD in adults, and Early Intervention.

Psychosis is a condition that affects the way the brain processes information, covering a range of symptoms where a person’s beliefs, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviours are affected. A person with psychosis can find it difficult to distinguish what is real, and onset is typically in late teens/early twenties. Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) is an evidenced-based approach that can transform the experience and outcomes of young people facing psychosis, and 5 multi-disciplinary teams are now operational. Two additional EIP teams will be developed this year based on funding I secured in Budget 2025.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality and morbidity within mental health, and early intervention, evidence-based care, and consistent support make a profound difference to the clinical and personal recovery of people who are affected by eating disorders. The Model of Care envisages a national network of community based mutli-disciplinary teams to diagnose and treat people with eating disorders – 8 teams for children and 8 for adult. Currently, there are 5 CAMHS ED teams and 6 Adult teams either operational or at an advanced stage of development; and Budget 2025 has additionally funded one Adult team and one CAMHS ED team.

The Navigator app, a dynamic web-based signposting tool for young people aged 16-34 years, has been commissioned by Spunout and the HSE to facilitate help-seeking behaviour and enhance access to support. It is expected to go live in April 2025.

Following the Programme for Government commitment, the interdepartmental High-Level Taskforce was established to progress the Government’s commitment to ensure the critical mental health needs and dual diagnosis treatments for people while imprisoned and primary care support on release, in order to ensure the safety of the public and better outcomes for the people themselves.

In relation to the health sector, good progress has been made overall in progressing key objectives of the HLTF Report. A focus has been to bring about new and real options around Diversion, including more person-centred and integrated care by all relevant health services for this small but highly vulnerable group. The opening of the new Central Mental Hospital at Portrane in 2022 has, for example, made a significant difference to modernising the HSE National Forensic Mental Health Service.

There has been very good cooperation by relevant health and justice agencies to improve interagency planning and delivery of services. These include, for the health sector, progressing initiatives relating to Suicide, ADHD, Crisis Resolution teams, as well as an update of the Mental Health Act 2001.

Important progress has also been made in updating Mental Health legislation. In July 2024, the Government published the Mental Health Bill 2024, which passed Second Stage in the Dáil before its dissolution. If passed by the Oireachtas, this Bill will repeal the existing Mental Health Acts 2001–2022 and update the process and criteria for involuntary admission and detention for people with severe mental health difficulties.

As the question also concerns operational matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.