Kerry Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly says the conclusions of the latest report about CAMHS are concerning but familiar.
Deputy Daly was speaking after the publication of the Mental Health Commission’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Report 2022–2023.
The report lists nine areas of concern specifically in relation to the service in Kerry and Cork, including staffing levels, access to CAMHS, and inadequate IT systems.
The report highlights one concern about the level of consultant psychiatrist cover in South Kerry, where currently one consultant covers 23.5 hours a week by telepsychiatry from overseas.
The remaining times are covered by a consultant who works full-time in another team and is available for urgent calls only.
The Commission also escalated the case of one young person, whose medical condition was deteriorating, to the Executive Clinic Director.
Among the other concerns were the long waiting lists which prevented access to the service, and the suitability and safety of the environments out of which some teams operate.
The Commission also noted concerns about the lack of a suitable IT system, and the storage of files, which it wrote was not safe from a data protection breach.
Of the 35 recommendations arising from the previous Maskey report into the South Kerry CAMHS, 23 are now completed, 11 are in progress, and one is stalled.
Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly says the conclusions are concerning but familiar to the families and young people he has spoken to over the past few years.
He added there are solutions; that the Maskey report recommendations be implemented, and the Commission should monitor the implementation as well as independent regulate CAMHS.
Deputy Daly says he will raise this report at the first opportunity when the Dáil returns, to ask the government what it will do in the here and now to restore some sense of safety and confidence.
