An interim report has been published today on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the State.
This arises from an independent review of HSE CAMHS, which was started last April, following the publication of the Maskey Report based on South Kerry CAMHS in January last year.
Today’s report has found that children and young people accessing child and mental health services across the country have been lost to follow-up care.
The publication of today’s interim report follows an independent review of the provision of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the State.
This independent review started in April 2022, following the publication of the Maskey Report last January, which found the care received by 240 young people in South Kerry CAMHS didn’t meet acceptable standards.
This interim report published today by the Mental Health Commission found some children and young people accessing child and mental health services across Ireland have been lost to follow-up care.
It has found that in one Community Healthcare Organisation, which is a grouping of counties or part of counties, there were 140 lost cases within the CAMHS team.
Some of these children and young adults didn’t have an appointment for up to two years.
These included some who had reached their 18th birthday with no planning, discharge or transition to adult services, and others who should have had follow-up appointments including for review of prescriptions or monitoring of medication.
The report also identified significant deficits across many Community Healthcare Organisations or CHOs reviewed to date - five of out nine have been completed, including
CHO 4, which covers Kerry and Cork.
The interim report found CAMHS staff worked extremely hard, within the often-limited resources to try to provide a good service to the public.
The Inspector made two immediate recommendations to the HSE and the Minister for Mental Health – for an immediate clinical review of all open cases in all CAMHS teams, and that the Minister ensures, as a priority, that there’s immediate regulation of CAMHS, under the Mental Health Act 2001.
In addition, the review also found long waiting lists, wide variation in acceptance rates,
unacceptable variations in care, and staff shortages.
The inspector has made five escalations of risk to the HSE due to her serious concerns for the wellbeing and safety of children.
