Public trust in mental health services under threat due to ineffective system
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The Government’s complacency in presiding over an ineffective mental health system for children threatens to damage public trust in services, the national coalition for mental health has warned.
Mental Health Reform has launched a broadside at the Government for its response to the current crisis in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs).
It comes after the Mental Health Commission (MHC) exposed serious deficiencies in Camhs, including a failure to monitor children using medication, a lack of follow-up care, poor clinical governance, and severe staffing shortages.
The MHC found that suicidal children are waiting more than 50 days on average to be seen by mental health services in Cork and Kerry.
Nationally, there were 4,451 children and teenagers waiting for access to Cahms, and acute understaffing is leaving vulnerable children languishing on waiting lists of up to three years, it also found.
Despite the recent scandal of children being harmed by services in South Kerry, the area remains without a permanent consultant psychiatrist since 2016. The majority of psychiatry in South Kerry is currently provided by a consultant psychiatrist through telepsychiatry from Doha, Qatar.
Acute understaffing was also found to be causing considerable problems in Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary, which had 24 concerns about its services raised by the MHC — the highest number of concerns of any Camhs area, followed by Cork and Kerry with nine.
The MHC's recent reports for each of the nine Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs) provide stark evidence of the negligence and dysfunction within Camhs, according to Mental Health Reform chief executive Fiona Coyle.
“The Government has been presiding over an ineffective mental system that has exposed children to the risk of harm.”
It is crucial that parents feel confident to approach mental health services as soon as their child starts to experience difficulties, according to Mental Health Reform.
In a statement, the group said early intervention is key to preventing the development of complex mental health difficulties and reducing the need for specialist care.
It is calling for the Taoiseach and coalition partners to take a strategic approach to reform youth mental health services.
It is also calling for an additional €25m in the upcoming budget for voluntary and community providers to meet the growing demand for support.
This includes the Youth Mental Health Pathfinder Project, a cross-departmental initiative that would improve the process of navigating treatment and support programmes for parents and young people.
The commission’s Independent Review of CAMHS outlines 49 recommendations including the immediate and independent regulation of Camhs and the creation of a National Lead for Mental Health in the HSE.
Mental Health Reform said it welcomes the recognition of the essential work carried out by frontline service providers in the report.
“We acknowledge that many families are concerned about the issues in Camhs. However, it is extremely important that children and young people continue to seek support if they are experiencing mental health difficulties.”