Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2013
92. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Health the measures he will take to reduce the waiting lists for the provision of mental health services for children and adolescents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22612/13]
View answer99. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Health the way he proposes to tackle the long waiting lists in the provision of mental health services for children and adolescents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22587/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 99 together.
The provision of Mental Health services to children and adolescents is informed by "A Vision for Change", the Report of the Expert Group on mental health policy. This recommends the provision of 80 child and adolescent psychiatric in-patient beds nationally. There are currently 39 such child and adolescent beds nationally, which is planned to increase to 66 beds by the end of this year. The provision of additional bed capacity reflects an almost 50% decrease in admissions of children to adult units since 2008. In the context of on-going developments, planning permission has been granted to construct a 24 bed In-Patient facility at Cherry Orchard, Dublin, which will incorporate some existing beds and increase capacity overall to 76 beds. This project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, or early next year, with an expected opening date of 2015.
The basic approach to delivery of mental health services to children and adolescents revolves around Community Mental Health Teams. In this regard, 150 additional posts were allocated to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Teams in 2012, and a further 80 posts have been identified for allocation to this specific service area in 2013, arising from targeted Government investment of €35 million for each of these respective years.
As of 29 April last, 122 of the designated 150 posts for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services were either filled, under offer, or awaiting appropriate clearance. The National Recruitment Service (NRS) of the HSE creates national panels in anticipation of vacancies. On occasion, however, it is difficult to fill some posts due to various reasons, such as geographical location or shortage of suitable candidates at certain times for some grades such as Clinical Psychologists. However, given the policy and service requirements identified, the NRS is currently working to ensure that remaining posts will be filled as soon as possible, subject to qualified candidates being available.
I wish to re-iterate this Government's strong commitment to enhance this year in practical terms Mental Health services for children and adolescents and I will continue to closely monitor the position over the remainder of 2013.
