Dr Maya Sharma is the HSE consultant who exposed the Kerry CAMHS scandal – how hundreds of children in the county’s child and adolescent mental health services had been harmed or put at risk of harm because of unsafe practices.
These included the inappropriate prescription of cocktails of anti-psychotic medication and an absence of consultant-led care.
Her concerns were upheld in the Maskey Report into South Kerry CAMHS published in 2022 and the Halpin Report into North Kerry CAMHS published this February.
Dr Sharma says her reputation as a whistleblower made it impossible to find work in any publicly-funded service.
During her interview with Treasa Murphy, Dr Sharma discusses the HSE-commissioned independent look back review by Dr Sean Maskey and his team. The Maskey review was published in 2022 – it found significant harm caused to 46 children and a further 240 were put at risk of harm.
Dr Sharma said Dr Maskey and his team were professional and she has no issue with their work. However, she believes the terms of reference they had to work within were too narrow.
Radio Kerry contacted the HSE South West for comment and it issued this statement:
Dr Sean Maskey’s review was independent, thorough and comprehensive. The HSE accepted his comprehensive report in full, and acted on all 35 of his recommendations.
The publication of the both the Maskey and North Kerry Lookback Reviews, together with the implementation of associated recommendations and ongoing governance oversight, demonstrates the HSE South West's ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous service improvement.
Following the Maskey review, multiple audits have taken place at all CAMHS e.g. the Mental Health Commission visited CAMHS teams (including South Kerry CAMHS) in 2022 and published a report in 2023; the HSE undertook a national audit of CAMHS teams (including South Kerry CAMHS) in 2022.
In addition, under Children First Act 2015, all mandated persons are required by law to report child protection concerns where they have reasonable grounds for concern.
