Varadkar urged to publicly address inadequate child mental health service

Mental Health Reform, which represents more than 80 community and voluntary sector organisations, has called on the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to publicly address recent reports on Camhs that found long waiting lists for services and 24 “areas of concern”.

Last Thursday the Mental Health Commission published individual reports on the child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) in the nine community healthcare organisations of the HSE.

The reports indicated that waiting lists amounted to over 4,450 Camhs patients, with all the consultants working part-time. There was no provision for out of hours services and children were left without their prescriptions until the consultant psychiatrist was on duty.

A number of psychiatrists and members of teams also said that they felt the service was unsafe due to shortages of cover.

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Fiona Coyle, chief executive of Mental Health Reform, told Morning Ireland, on RTÉ Radio 1, that Mr Varadkar needs to “speak out and to say that this is a huge priority for Government”.

“We have had a statement from the Minister of State Mary Butler but we really need the most senior level of Government to really prioritise this issue to ensure that that vital trust is restored and young people get the services and support that they need. Camhs is in a very difficult place at the moment.”

Ms Coyle says that funding needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“There is a budget of €90 million, which is significant, but that Budget has not moved year on year for the last five years and the demand has increased. We have evidence to show that the organisations are delivering more services for the same money with increased staffing and general cost of running businesses.

[ HSE child mental healthcare: Inspector ‘cannot assure parents that services are safe and effective’ ]

“It was very difficult reading the Mental Health Commission reports and in particular the statement by the Mental Health Inspectorate that you couldn’t assure access to safe effective and evidence based services.”

She added that she had heard anecdotal evidence of parents were being put off using the services because of its deficiencies.