Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 October 2021
91. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Health if an update will be provided on the staffing levels and range of services being provided currently in a facility (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50829/21]
View answerWill the Minister please provide an update on the staffing levels and the current services available in the e-mental health hub in Castlerea in my constituency? This hub, as the Minister knows, was opened in June 2020. No funding was provided from January of this year. This is an issue I have raised repeatedly. Funding was put in place in July. Has it been spent?
I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge the fact she has raised this several times. The Government remains committed to the development of the Castlerea mental health hub. This project was announced in June 2020, comprising a new child and adolescent mental health service, called the CAMHS Connect day hospital and a psychiatry of later life day hospital. In 2020, €800,000 was provided for refurbishment works and staff recruitment by the HSE. In 2021, 14 posts were approved and €1.4 million allocated for this. Staffing for the CAMHS Connect day hospital includes a consultant psychiatrist, a non-consultant hospital doctor, NCHD, an advanced nurse practitioner, a senior social worker, a clinical nurse specialist, a senior psychologist and an occupational therapist. The consultant, NCHD, advanced nurse practitioner, and senior social worker for this team have been recruited. The remaining three posts are at an advanced stage of recruitment.
Staffing for the psychiatry of later life day hospital incudes a consultant psychiatrist, an NCHD, an advanced nurse practitioner, a social worker, a clinical nurse specialist, a senior psychologist and a senior occupational therapist. All these posts are going through recruitment at present and will be filled as soon as possible. Funding will be allocated to the local mental health service for these as staff are appointed.
The services now available from the CAMHS Connect team are: CAMHS multidisciplinary clinics, including a monthly mental health intellectual disability clinic; diagnostic assessments; cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT, and family therapy; and outreach support, and the CAMHS group work is being run to deliver therapy to young people. I assure the Deputy I will continue to monitor the roll-out of this vital service.
Just to confirm, three posts remain unfilled in the CAMHS Connect and none has been filled for the psychiatry of later life service.
I have a lot of control over certain things in mental health but I cannot control recruitment. I just cannot do it and unfortunately, it can take up to 50 weeks to recruit to a consultant's post. We also have to backfill the post that he or she is vacating. There are lots of difficulties with regard to recruitment. As I have said, 14 posts have been approved with €1.4 million in revenue allocated. The Deputy is correct that there are three posts outstanding but those remaining posts are at an advanced stage of recruitment.
All posts in the psychiatry of later life day hospital are going through the recruitment process at the moment and will be filled as soon as possible. I am fully committed to this outreach programme. It is a fantastic initiative combining supports for children and young adolescents with support for the psychiatry of later life. An online service will be based in the new CAMHS hospital, which will be important for those who live in areas that are not close to Castlerea.
I appreciate that recruitment is not something the Minister of State can control but perhaps if recruitment had started in June 2020 when the service was opened rather than seven months into 2021, we would not have much of an issue now. While I acknowledge that significant investment went into opening this facility in the first instance, funding did not carry through until earlier this year. I raised this repeatedly and only in July was it announced that funding would be put in place. It was only then that recruitment could begin when it should have begun in June 2020. I ask the Minister of State to give a commitment to me and to the people of Roscommon and further afield, who will rely on this crucial mental health service for young and older people, that we will not have to wait seven months for funding for the service. Will funding be continued into 2022? I ask her to provide a guarantee in this regard.
Online services are important but I understand that a number of screens were installed in Castlerea last week that require efibre. There is no efibre network connection to the building at the moment and I ask the Minister of State to look into that as well.
When this was opened with fanfare in June 2020 we were given assurances that the psychiatry of later life service would be developed there. It is unacceptable that it will now be 2022 before any older person will be able to avail of a service at Castlerea.
I can only deal with the here and now and with the situation as it pertained when I came into post last July. We should look at the positives. This facility will be fully staffed by early 2022. It will be the first of its kind nationally and that has to be acknowledged and accepted. It will form the core of the new Castlerea mental health hub across HSE west and beyond. Having listened to both Deputies, one would think nothing was happening in Castlerea when in fact CAMHS multidisciplinary clinics are operating there, including a monthly mental health intellectual disability clinic. Diagnostic assessments are taking place, while cognitive behaviour therapy and family therapy services are being provided. Outreach support is also being provided and CAMHS group work is being run at the centre to deliver therapy to young people. I would hate people to think that there is nothing happening in Castlerea because there is a huge amount happening.
It is important to look at the history of the facility as well-----
I did not interrupt the Deputy. There is a huge amount happening and the €1.4 million that was allocated this year will be provided for staff.
