More than 620 children are waiting more than a year to get access to child and adolescent mental health services, with the Opposition describing the situation as “infuriating.”
In a letter to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, the Health Service Executive (HSE) provided preliminary and unpublished figures in relation to the waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which provide specialist mental health services for those aged up to 18 years. Those services are provided for children and adolescents who have reached the threshold for a diagnosis of moderate to severe mental health disorder.
The HSE told Mr Farrelly that while the data is pending “ongoing review and validation”, it shows that until the end of December of 2024 there were just over 4,200 children and adolescents waiting to be seen. Some 408 young people are waiting between 39 and 52 weeks, while 699 young people are waiting between 26 to 39 weeks.
“We now have clear evidence of a mental health service that is not fit for purpose for children and young people. It is infuriating to see these figures. Twelve month waiting times are simply not good enough,” Mr Farrelly said.
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“The programme for Government is very loose on commitments regarding the workforce needs of mental health specialists – including counsellors and therapists. If the Government drags their heels on this, these waiting lists will only continue to prevail and worsen. When it comes to mental health, 12 months is an excruciatingly long time to go without a service.”
The figures provided to Mr Farrelly apply to the end of December 2024. They are higher than the corresponding figures for the end of 2023, when there were 3,759 children and adolescents on the CAMHS waiting list.
The information provided by the HSE also reveals that 787 young people are waiting between 12 and 26 weeks to be seen by CAMHS teams, while 1,685 young people are waiting up to 12 weeks.
The new programme for Government, agreed last month between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and a number of Independents, says the new Government will “consider measures to attract and retain staff in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services” and also “develop a new workforce plan to address immediate staffing shortages and longer term needs”. The Government has also committed to resourcing CAMHS teams to reduce waiting lists.
Data released last year showed that more than one-third of psychiatrist posts in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services were not permanently filled.
