A surge in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among children is driving spiralling waiting-lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs), according to the Minister of State for Mental Health.
Up to 70 per cent of referrals to one Camhs team in Cork are due to ADHD, Mary Butler said.
Describing the condition as the “new trend” in children’s mental health, she said two HSE areas were now bearing 50 per cent of the national waiting list: HSE southwest, covering Cork and Kerry, and HSE Dublin and northeast, covering north Dublin, Louth, Meath, Monaghan and most of Cavan.
Concerned at these areas’ growing lists, Ms Butler said she visited three Camhs teams in Cork last week – one in Mallow and two in Cork City.
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“In one of the teams 70 per cent of their referrals were ADHD. Another team, 60 per cent of their referrals were ADHD and another team 50 per cent of referrals were ADHD,” she said.
“ADHD and autism seem to be where the trends are gone now. ‘Trends’ may be the wrong word, but at one stage when we were dealing with clinical depression, with huge amounts of anxiety, suicide ideation and self-harm . . . What we are seeing at the moment is a huge amount of presentations in relation to ADHD.”
Addressing a HSE-hosted conference on mental health policy in Dublin on Wednesday, the Minister said that when she “went off to get elected” last November, the Camhs waiting list was 3,500.
“And then I came back and the waiting list was 4,200. To say I was not impressed was an understatement. And I am still not impressed,” she told attendees at the conference, most of whom were HSE staff working in mental health.
She said she had “zero tolerance” for the current situation where some children were waiting up to 18 months to access Camhs.
“We have young people, children, adolescents, teenagers waiting in excess in some areas more than 18 months. I have zero tolerance for that ... It’s simply unacceptable,” she said.
Last year, specialist Camhs services received about €160 million in dedicated funding, an increase from €137 million in 2023.
“I am not happy. My team knows I am not happy. My department knows I am not happy. [HSE chief executive] Bernard Gloster knows I am not happy,” said Ms Butler.
“I am conscious as a parent myself ... that if you are a mother of a child or a guardian who is on a waiting list for Camhs and they are not receiving the supports they need, it is a very, very lonely time. It is one of the key messages and one of my key focuses ... I will not rest until we get there.”
Mental Health Commission chief executive of John Farrelly, who was at the conference, said it was “great to hear a Minister call out the HSE on the situation in Camhs so publicly”.
Dr Michelle Funk, unit head of the World Health Organisation’s policy, law and human rights section in its department of mental health, said adverse social issues, including racism, discrimination and poverty, were factors in many mental health difficulties.
A speaker from the floor, who identified himself as a mental health worker with the Traveller and Roma organisation Pavee Point, said too many young Travellers were “dying of suicide because of racism”.
