Child mental health beds
Deputy Doherty warned that closing ten Fairview CAMHS beds would worsen an already broken child mental health system. The Tánaiste said the beds were always a short-term measure, accepted they were not fully like-for-like, and promised to check further.
The Government is closing down ten beds at St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, for children in mental health crisis at a time when so many of our young people are crying out help and left in awful situations. We are talking about children in some cases with severe depression, anxiety, self-harming, eating disorders and suicidal. It is real pain. It is real suffering here. Their poor parents are at their wits' end and sent from pillar to post desperately seeking services for their children and banging on doors of a broken system. Waiting lists continue to grow and grow. We only have 50 CAMHS beds right across the State. That is half of what is needed. The lives of children and young people in mental health crisis are on the line. Every single bed counts. We need more and now the Government is closing ten of them.
The head of the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland calls this decision "inconceivable". I call it dangerous. It is dangerous for children who need urgent help. The Government cannot close these beds. These children need them and more.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I heard Peter Hughes, who the Deputy referenced, on the radio this morning. The Government is very happy to engage with him and the union he represents. The note available to me is that the use of the beds in Fairview was intended to be a short-term measure while other CAMHS beds were temporarily closed. There were always limitations around the beds. I do not say this in any way to disrespect the staff who do a good job. Admissions are restricted primarily to 16- and 17-year-olds. There were no out-of-hours or weekend admissions. There was not a dedicated eating disorder pathway. There were significant staffing constraints and unsuitable physical infrastructure with the current building no longer fit for purpose. This was to fill a gap while they were waiting to open additional beds, including 11 additional beds in the state of the art 22 bed facility in Linn Dara in Dublin. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Buter, to come back to the Deputy with more information and that we engage directly on this important matter.