The Mental Health Commission has published its report into the provision of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Community Healthcare settings.
The Commission's report is a damning indictment of the deepening crisis in our mental health services.
Serious concerns were also expressed about one facility in the Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan area, where the management of one team was placing children at risk of being 'lost' in the system.
CHO 1, covering Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, had six areas of concern including that one team had no occupational therapist or psychiatrist; serious concerns about the management of clinical files; and not having up to date reviews of some patients.
There were serious staffing shortages in Cavan/Monaghan CAMHS where one team had only 65% of recommended staff.
Access to speech and language therapy across the three teams was severely curtailed due to a limited number of speech and language therapists.
Cavan/Monaghan CAMHS Service also encountered a period where there were no CAMHS consultants available to the teams.
There is no CAMHS out-of-hours service in Cavan/Monaghan which means that emergency departments are often the last resort for children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis.
The service in Nazareth House Sligo provides support to children and adolescents in Leitrim, with the findings showing issues with the facility including privacy concerns.
In CHO2 which includes Roscommon, the report found that The Galway and Roscommon CAMHS-MHID team were operating on very limited numbers in terms of staffing, with major issues recorded with the service facilities.
However, The CAMHS Connect Hub in Castlerea was found to be a very pleasant and appropriate space and was ideally placed to offer the Connect service to Galway, Roscommon and Mayo.
Moving to CHO8 and to Longford, the premises in Edgesworthtown was found to be suitable to receive young people and deliver services, with the facility itself in need of considerable refurbishment.
Longford is also covered by the CAMHS unit within the Mullingar Primary Care centre, with the service and property receiving strong results in the Mental health Commission Report.
