CAMHS crisis
Deputy Sherlock cited a harrowing parent interview about north Kerry CAMHS and raised long waits for children needing therapy. The Minister of State said she would brief Deputies on the report and acknowledged ongoing challenges in CAMHS.
Listening to Mary, the parent of a child included in the north Kerry CAMHS review, made for harrowing listening on "Morning Ireland" and would have sent a chill down the spine of any parent whose child has moderate to severe mental health difficulties. We await the publication of the report today. We also need to hear what the Government is doing about the wider CAMHS service. As of November, 1,800 children were waiting six months or longer for CAMHS therapy. These are children with moderate to severe difficulties who need therapy now, not in many months. The south west, my area, Dublin north east, the west and the north west have some of the longest waiters. The critical thing I want to communicate to the Minister for mental health is that when I speak to GPs in my area who cover some of the most disadvantaged committees in the country, they tell me they dread and even put off referring children to CAMHS because of the high level of rejection, because of the waiting times and, crucially, because of the urgency of need.
They have to find other pathways. Some of those children are under eight years of age and need services. We need to see assurances for those families.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for respecting the fact of the report being published later this evening. We can arrange a briefing for health spokespersons on that. I will brief the Kerry Deputies as well this evening.
There are challenges in CAMHS, but 225,000 appointments were issued last year to people who attend. Some people get a really good response from CAMHS. As regards the point the Deputy made in relation to CAMHS and intellectual disabilities, I set this model of care up in 2023, led by Dr. Amir Niazi, who was clinical director. Since then, we have started to fund it. This year alone, I put €1.5 million in recurrent funding into it for 15 new posts. We are coming from a low base and we are also trying to break down the silos between the CDNTs and CAMHS for children with a dual diagnosis. That is where I am finding a really significant barrier. I hope the standard access portal being set up across the country at the moment will help. I am happy to take it offline------