Patrick Costello
Question:293. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Health if he will include CAMHS under the regulation provisions of the Mental Health Act 2001. [6677/24]
View answerMental Health Services
Questions (293)
Written answers
I firmly support the regulation of all mental health services, including community CAMHS, and I am progressing priority legislation to underpin this regulation.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring all mental health services, both inpatient and community, and both adult and child and adolescent, are fully registered, regulated, and inspected by the Mental Health Commission in its role as the independent regulator of mental health services.
Under the Mental Health Act 2001, the Mental Health Commission registers, inspects, and regulates all inpatient mental health services, including inpatient CAMHS. The current Mental Health Act 2001 does not include any provisions for the registration or regulation of community mental health services and therefore, it is not considered that the Act provides the necessary legal basis to expand the Commission’s regulatory remit.
The expansion of the Mental Health Commission’s role into regulating all community mental health services, including community CAMHS, is being addressed in the forthcoming Mental Health Bill. This new Bill is a complex and lengthy piece of legislation. It will provide the necessary legal underpinning to ensure that the Mental Health Commission can regulate all community services. Additionally, the Bill will overhaul the involuntary admission and detention process, modernise provisions related to consent to treatment, provide enhanced safeguards for people accessing inpatient treatment, and provide a new, discrete Part that relates exclusively to the care and treatment of children and young people.
Drafting of this Bill has been prioritised and it is now in its final months of drafting. I will introduce it to the Oireachtas in the summer legislative session, which begins in April.
Work also continues to improve CAMHS at service level. Year-on-year funding for mental health services increased by €74 million from €1.221 billion in Budget 2023 to nearly €1.3 billion in 2024, and with a strong focus on investing in child and youth mental health. This is the fourth consecutive year of an increase for mental health services, and highlights in real terms the importance this Government places on the mental health of those living in Ireland.
CAMHS receives €146.5 million in dedicated funding annually. In addition to this, approximately €110 million in funding is provided by the Government to community-based mental health organisations/NGOs each year to deliver supports and services. A significant proportion of this is dedicated to supporting young people. A few weeks ago, I announced a further €10 million in funding for mental health to support the delivery of clinical programmes and youth mental health, again highlighting the Government’s recognition of mental health as a central component to overall health.
For the first time in the history of the State we now have a dedicated National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health in the HSE. This is a very significant development and it will improve leadership, operational oversight, and management of all service delivery and improvements. Both a new HSE National Clinical Lead for Child and Youth Mental Health and a new HSE Assistant National Director for Child and Youth Mental Health have recently taken up post.
There continues to be growing demand for CAMHS across the country with over 22,000 referrals last year. Between 2020 and 2021, referral rates into CAMHS increased by 33%, while the number of new cases seen increased by 21%.
It is a priority for the Government and for the HSE to improve access to CAMHS and to address CAMHS waiting lists. The new dedicated HSE National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health will focus on improved service delivery. This includes taking account of the recent Maskey and Mental Health Commission reports on CAMHS. The National Office is currently finalising the Youth Mental Health Service Improvement Plan which will set out agreed actions for focused service improvement through identified, timely, and measurable actions.
There are now 75 CAMHS teams and 4 in-patient units nationally. Staffing in community CAMHS has increased in recent years, with an increase of 500 full time equivalent posts between 2011 and 2024. I secured funding for additional new posts under Budget 2024, with a focus on child and youth mental health posts.
The Government and I remain committed to the development of all aspects of mental health services nationally.
Mental Health Services
Questions (294)
James Lawless
Question:294. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Health if there are any plans for the reform of CAMHS (details provided); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6679/24]
View answerWritten answers
I firmly support the regulation of all mental health services, including community CAMHS, and I have been progressing priority legislation to underpin this regulation.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring all mental health services, both inpatient and community, and both adult and child and adolescent, are fully registered, regulated, and inspected by the Mental Health Commission in its role as the independent regulator of mental health services.
Under the Mental Health Act 2001, the Mental Health Commission registers, inspects, and regulates all inpatient mental health services, including inpatient CAMHS. The current Mental Health Act 2001 does not include any provisions for the registration or regulation of community mental health services and therefore, it is not considered that the Act provides the necessary legal basis to expand the Commission’s regulatory remit.
The expansion of the Mental Health Commission’s role into regulating all community mental health services, including community CAMHS, is being addressed in the forthcoming Mental Health Bill. This new Bill is a complex and lengthy piece of legislation. It will provide the necessary legal underpinning to ensure that the Mental Health Commission can regulate all community services. Additionally, the Bill will overhaul the involuntary admission and detention process, modernise provisions related to consent to treatment, provide enhanced safeguards for people accessing inpatient treatment, and provide a new, discrete Part that relates exclusively to the care and treatment of children and young people.
Drafting of this Bill has been prioritised and it is now in its final months of drafting. It will be introduced to the Oireachtas in the summer legislative session, which begins in April.
Work also continues to improve CAMHS at service level. Year-on-year funding for mental health services increased by €74 million from €1.221 billion in Budget 2023 to nearly €1.3 billion in 2024, and with a strong focus on investing in child and youth mental health. This is the fourth consecutive year of an increase for mental health services, and highlights in real terms the importance this Government places on the mental health of those living in Ireland.
CAMHS receives €146.5 million in dedicated funding annually. In addition to this, approximately €110 million in funding is provided by the Government to community-based mental health organisations/NGOs each year to deliver supports and services. A significant proportion of this is dedicated to supporting young people. I recently announced a further €10 million in funding for mental health to support the delivery of clinical programmes and youth mental health. This again highlights the Government’s recognition of mental health as a central component to overall health, in line with our policies Sharing the Vision and Connecting for Life.
There continues to be growing demand for CAMHS across the country with over 22,000 referrals last year. Between 2020 and 2021, referral rates into CAMHS increased by 33%, while the number of new cases seen increased by 21%.
It is a priority for Government, and for the HSE, to improve access to CAMHS and to address CAMHS waiting lists. The new dedicated HSE National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health will focus on improved service delivery. This includes taking account of the recent Maskey and Mental Health Commission reports on CAMHS. The National Office is currently finalising the Youth Mental Health Service Improvement Plan which will set out agreed actions for focused service improvement through identified, timely, and measurable actions.
There are now 75 CAMHS teams and 4 in-patient units nationally. Staffing in community CAMHS has increased in recent years, with an increase of 500 full time equivalent posts between 2011 and 2024. I secured funding for additional new posts under Budget 2024, with a focus on child and youth mental health posts.
The Deputy can rest assured that I, and the Government, remain fully committed to the development of all aspects of mental health services nationally.
Mental Health Services
Questions (295)
Pa Daly
Question:295. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Health the number of patients that are committed to facilities in University Hospital Kerry under the relevant provisions of the Mental Health Act 2001; and how many are minors. [6682/24]
View answerWritten answers
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Mental Health Services
Questions (296)
Richard Bruton
Question:296. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the trend in referrals to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service over the past five years; how the level of staffing and service has grown in those years; if he will outline the efforts to fill new post created and indicate how the level of unfilled positions have evolved; and if he will outline the approach to reform of services delivery which she is undertaking. [6688/24]
View answerWritten answers
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Pharmacy Services
Questions (297)
Michael Ring
Question:297. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Health in view of the extreme pressures that GPs are under at the moment, what further services pharmacists can be allowed to provide to alleviate the pressure on GP practices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6689/24]
View answerWritten answers
I thank the deputy for their question. GPs are an important part of primary care, and the Department has taken a number of steps to improve access and care provided by GP services. Training for GPs has expanded in the last number of years. The number of GP training places will increase to 350 in July 2024 which will see a total of 1,300 trainees undertaking the programme. This capacity increase is necessary to maintain the health and well-being of our population.
Community pharmacists are another crucial part of our healthcare service, and they carry out a number of essential services such as the safe supply of prescription medication, safe supply of medicines and treatments that you don't need a prescription for, advice on common conditions, help with taking medicines correctly, supply of emergency contraception, blood pressure check-ups and vaccinations.
Pharmacists are qualified healthcare professionals, and their role can be expanded to alleviate the pressure on GP practices. On 24th July 2023, I established an Expert Task force to support the expansion of the role of pharmacists in Ireland. The remit of the Task force is to identify and support the delivery of specific objectives, which will serve to align services and practices that can be delivered by pharmacists, and pharmacies, with the needs of the health service and patient.
I accepted the first recommendation from the Task force at the end of October. The new measure, which will take effect from 1 March 2024, will allow prescribers to write prescriptions with a maximum validity of 12 months if they so wish. Work is ongoing within the Department to finalise the steps needed to ensure that this is implemented into practice for prescribers and pharmacists.
The Expert Task force for Pharmacy are currently working on Phase 2 of their terms of reference - Empowering Pharmacists to Prescribe within their scope of Practice. It is expected they will make further recommendations in the coming months. Any recommendations the Task force make will aim to improve access for patients in a safe, person-centred way.
General Practitioner Services
Questions (298)
Cian O'Callaghan
Question:298. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Health the number of GPs practising in the State, broken down by CHO area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6696/24]
View answerWritten answers
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
As the Deputy may be aware, management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday, 6 October. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes. As a result, the question asked by the Deputy may be delayed in receiving a response directly from the HSE.
Dental Services
Questions (299)
Cian O'Callaghan
Question:299. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Health the number of dentists practising in the State, broken down by CHO area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6697/24]
View answerWritten answers
It is extremely heartening to note that we currently have more registered dentists in Ireland than ever before – 3,654 at present, which is an additional 182 registered dentists since March 2023. This reflects positive trends, with the comparative figure being 3,217 in 2018.
The Dental Council is required to record an address for each registrant. However, the Council has advised that current legislation does not allow them to stipulate that this must be a practice address.
Accordingly, this means that a significant amount of the addresses on the register are registrants home addresses.
Notwithstanding this issue, the Council have informed the Department that they are aware that there are a large number of dentists that work in multiple practices, and these can often be in more than one County.
In terms of the number of dentists practising, this is currently based on estimated figures. As per the Dental Council’s data Ireland has approximately 73.08 registered dentists per 100,000 population. The Department is liaising with the Dental Council with a view to reforming its ‘Register of Dentists’ to collect more accurate and reliable data.
The HSE has confirmed that for December 2023 there were 816 whole time equivalents working in the Public Dental Service across all grades, including 251 dentist whole time equivalents.
Efforts are ongoing within the HSE to address any current vacancies. A number of CHOs have run competitions for dentists, dental nurses and dental hygienists to fill vacancies, with panels created from the recruitment competitions. These positions are available for any person who meets the required eligibility criteria to apply.
The HSE National Oral Health Office works with the HSE National HR, Recruitment Reform and Resourcing Programme on identifying any resourcing challenges that may be experienced by the dental and oral health professions.
These are all important measures to ensure adequate staffing of our services for patients today. In tandem we are also investing in fundamental reform of our healthcare services for the future, through implementation of the National Oral Health Policy. The policy provides a framework and a set of action areas, including strategic workforce planning, to comprehensively reform oral healthcare service design and delivery.
Healthcare Policy
Questions (300)
Dara Calleary
Question:300. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Health if there are plans to extend mammograms for under 50 year-olds and over 69 year-olds. [6717/24]
View answerWritten answers
I am fully committed to supporting our population screening programmes which are a valuable part of our health service, enabling early treatment and care for many people, and improving the overall health of our population.
BreastCheck, the National Breast Screening Programme, currently invites women aged 50 to 69 years at regular periods to have a routine mammogram. Under commitments in the Programme for Government, BreastCheck eligibility has been expanded to women aged 69 years since 2021.
In response to the Deputy's question, I will highlight that any decisions about further changes in cancer screening, including further extension of the age ranges, will be made on the advice of the National Screening Advisory Committee (NSAC). This independent expert group considers and assesses evidence in a robust and transparent manner, and against internationally accepted criteria. It is important we have rigorous processes in place to ensure our screening programmes are effective, quality assured and operating to safe standards, and that the benefits of screening outweigh the harms.
I would stress that careful consideration must be given to any proposed expansion of Ireland’s screening programmes and that this process must be afforded the necessary amount of time to complete. This includes ensuring that decisions are made based on internationally accepted criteria and scientific rigour.
In this regard, I am pleased to report that the Committee is already progressing work to consider the further expansion of our cancer screening programmes and has asked HIQA to evaluate the evidence for the further expansion of the age range eligibility for the BreastCheck programme.
Finally, I would highlight to the Deputy that NSAC holds Calls for Submissions, which invite all stakeholders, including members of the public, HSE and other medical professionals, to make proposals for the introduction of new population-based screening programmes or changes to existing programmes in Ireland. The Committee’s third Call for Submissions is currently open until 1 March 2024. Further information is available on the Committee's website at www.nsacommittee.ie.
Mental Health Services
Questions (301)
Pearse Doherty
Question:301. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health if Donegal Mental Health Intellectual Disability Service will provide help and support for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6728/24]
View answerWritten answers
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.