I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Mental Health Act 2001.
Alongside Deputy David Cullinane, I am introducing this legislation to regulate the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, under the Mental Health Act 2001. The Bill will ensure that recommendations on governance and clinical reforms made by the Mental Health Commission can be implemented by the HSE and the State. It would also allow the Mental Health Commission to monitor the implementation of any such recommendations and allow it to publish an annual report on progress.
The introduction of this legislation comes following damning reviews into CAMHS by both the Mental Health Commission and the Maskey report. The Mental Health Commission has made 49 recommendations that the Government must accept and implement to reform CAMHS and improve care given to children. The first of these recommendations was to regulate CAMHS under the Mental Health Act, which would give statutory powers to the commission to oversee the implementation of its recommendations.
Our young people and their families cannot wait. This is why I am introducing this legislation today to start the process of delivering the necessary changes within CAMHS and to ensure they are implemented as recommended. While the Mental Health Commission can make recommendations on governance and clinical reforms in CAMHS, it does not have the statutory authority to ensure that these recommendations will be implemented. That is what this legislation will do. I call on the Government to support the Bill, as empowering the Mental Health Commission by giving it the powers to improve CAMHS is simply the right thing to do.
The reports highlighted a large and unacceptable variation in the numbers of young people waiting for appointments and the length of time they were waiting. Common challenges discovered in the report by the Mental Health Commission included problems of governance, budgets, risk management, digital infrastructure, clinical governance, staffing, access, transition to adult services, vulnerable children, integration and adherence to guidelines.
Due to the seriousness of the concerns raised by the review and the number of challenges identified, the inspector recommended that a comprehensive strategy for CAMHS must be prepared. Sinn Féin's legislation will ensure that this will happen. Sinn Féin is taking these reports seriously and is proposing solutions to address them. The longer the Government is in office, the worse the problems become. It is time for change. I call on the Government to support this legislation, as having an independent body with the appropriate statutory powers to make positive changes in children's mental health is something that should be welcomed by all.
There is a multitude of reasons this legislation is needed. We have seen record waiting lists for CAMHS, which have more than doubled since this Government was formed. We have seen a dramatic decline in inpatient capacity for CAMHS due to staffing reasons, and the recruitment embargo will affect this further. We have seen several reports and reviews into CAMHS, most notably those by Dr. Seán Maskey and the Mental Health Commission. The more localised reports by the Mental Health Commission into each community healthcare organisation, CHO, area reveal the extent to which young people were at risk if they were waiting on acute services for self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicidal intent and eating disorders. The reports showed that waiting times for an appointment were between 60 and 200 days for these in some CHO areas. A 60-day wait for suicidal intent services is absolutely damning.
We have seen children lost to follow-up, children who went without proper monitoring for anti-psychotic medication and children who are lost between transitioning from CAMHS to adult services. We have seen budget after budget fail to fund CAMHS. We need to see multi-annual budgets. The morale of staff is low and they need supports. Any staff I have met in CAMHS are doing their best but they are not being supported by Government policies. A Sinn Féin Government would fund child and youth mental health services and expand inpatient capacity by increasing the number of inpatient beds from 72 to 105. It would deliver fully staffed teams to break the system of postcode treatment and fund specialist CAMHS services such as those for eating disorders and intellectual disabilities.
Sinn Féin is serious about mental health, and that is why we are bringing this legislation forward. We have listened to the Mental Health Commission, and to parents and children. We agree with the commission's recommendations and we want to empower it in legislation to carry out all the changes that are required. I call on Deputies from all parties and none, Government and Opposition, to support this legislation that will give parents, children and staff in CAMHS assurances that services will improve. It is the least that they deserve.
