Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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129. To ask the Minister for Health the current waiting list figures for a first assessment in child and adolescent mental health services; the number of children waiting longer than 12-months; and the accountability measures that have been introduced for the senior HSE management responsible for the ongoing service failures and spiralling waiting lists. [64448/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It is a priority for me, and for Government, to ensure that children who need services can access them and access them on time. This is in line with our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision, our suicide reduction strategy Connecting for Life, and the HSE Annual Service Plan 2025.

Year-on-year funding for mental health services increased from €1.3 billion announced in Budget 2024 to €1.5 billion in 2025 to nearly €1.6 billion in 2026. For context, this is an annual increase in funding of over 5%, and funding since I took up this office has increased by over 51%.

Specifically in relation to youth mental health, this year’s budget provided funding for new early intervention youth mental health services, funding to support a digital single point of access for youth mental health services, an additional specialist CAMHS eating disorders team, two new Mental Health of Intellectual Disabilities teams for children, and five new mental health Discovery Colleges for young people.

CAMHS nationally receives approximately €170 million annually, with a further €110 million provided to NGOs, many of which focus on youth mental health. Under Budget 2025, an additional €2.9 million has supported CAMHS to increase core staffing, develop a new CAMHS Emergency Liaison Service and expand CAMHS Hubs to improve crisis cover for services.

CAMHS nationally has also initiated a targeted campaign to reduce waiting lists across all of its CAMHS teams following the receipt of €3 million waiting list initiative funding from the National Child and Youth Mental Health Office for 2025.

CAMHS is a secondary care specialist service for those aged up to 18 years, who have a moderate to severe mental health difficulty. Access to CAMHS is on the basis of prioritised clinical assessment, in line with the CAMHS Operational Guidelines which are available on the HSE website. All referrals to CAMHS are assessed by a multidisciplinary team. Approximately 2% of the population require support from this specialist service with over 90% of mental health needs requiring treatment in a primary care setting.

I established the National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health in the HSE to improve leadership and all aspects of care across youth mental health. The Office published its new Youth Mental Health Action Plan in February last. This ambitious plan for comprehensive reform across all youth mental health services, including the specialist CAMHS service, will deliver services which are safer, effective, easier to access and which offers appropriate support at all levels when needed.

The three-year Plan sets out a clear roadmap for the Department and HSE to ensure children and families have equitable and timely access to high-quality mental health care, including better links with Primary Care and Disability Services, and greater use of e-mental health responses. My aim is that services will be better connected and easier to navigate, with increased focus on the rights of young people and their families. The development of a Single Point of Access for all child and youth mental health referrals in partnership with disabilities, primary care, and voluntary and statutory agencies is a key priority within the new Action Plan.

I recently commenced a series of visits to all HSE Regional Health Areas to meet with the Regional Executive Officers and their staff to focus on improvements to all aspects of Youth Mental Health care, to identify areas where increased activity is needed, and also areas of innovative and positive service delivery. This includes improving access and reducing CAMHS waiting lists particularly for those waiting over 12 months. I have stressed also, the importance of filling all approved posts for each CAMHS team to ensure the effective delivery of services.

There is a long standing and well established reporting and monitoring system between the Department and HSE Mental Health in relation to improving access to CAMHS and to reducing CAMHS waiting lists. This involves regular meetings, and detailed data returns which will be enhanced in the future.

There continues to be growing demand for CAMHS with the number of referrals to Community CAMHS increasing from 17,436 in 2020 to 25,721 in 2024. This is an increase of 8,285 or 48% in referrals. Despite this increasing demand, the total number on the waiting list at the end of September was 4,047. This represents a decrease of 97 children from 4,144 at the end of August. Significantly, the Community CAMHS waiting list has reduced in each of the five months since the end of April. Between the end of April and the end of September, the waiting list has reduced by 507 children.

I will continue to work closely with the HSE to ensure that all aspects of youth mental health care are improved over this year and beyond.