Carol Nolan exposes Offaly CAMHS failure in teen crisis

Comhairle, Tánaiste, the schools are out, summer is well and truly upon us and for most families this will be an opportunity to enjoy spending time with their children or grandchildren. Others will watch the kids being able to spend more time with their friends but for some families this family will be an ongoing and continuous nightmare and it will be spent trying to keep their teenage children from ending their own lives before they can access vital services and one of those families is in my own constituency of Offaly. It involves a teenage girl who has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, PTSD, depression and bipolar disorder. This young girl is self-harming and her situation is now unfortunately at crisis level. Despite this her mother who is utterly heartbroken and distressed as we can all imagine, she's fiercely protective of her child and fiercely determined to protect her child at all costs but she has been informed by Offaly CAMS service that she will be waiting until at least the end of September or early October when she and I quote could be offered an appointment. Now Offaly CAMS has been told a number of times by this mother about the situation and I saw a copy of the letter myself and to say I was appalled is an understatement. I'm appalled at the lack of urgency and the lack of empathy in this situation. This girl cannot enjoy the sun or the holidays and her mother watches her continuously, utterly helpless as she is effectively abandoned by the state services that her daughter might not live to access. It is a form of cruelty beyond all description to force families to endure circumstances such as these. Many of us here are parents and what would we not do to help our teenage children? Tánaiste, what is happening in Offaly is not an isolated case. I know there are cases around the country as well. I have previously established that the Midlands CAMS area had the second highest waiting list in the state with 1,006 children waiting for mental health treatment. The government can speak about investment but until those funds translate into fully staffed multidisciplinary teams, families in Offaly will continue to experience a service that is overwhelmed, inaccessible and life-threateningly inadequate and as I say I'm appalled by the response of Offaly CAMS in relation to this situation. Go raibh maith agat. Go raibh maith agat, Dr. Nolan. Thank you very much for raising this very important issue and in the first instance I can see your genuine concern for the family which you're advocating for here while highlighting a broader issue but also your particular concern in relation to the response that that family have received from CAMS and what I would suggest and I want to address the broader issue but what I would suggest you do and I know you will is if you provide that information to Minister Butler and I'll ask that Minister Butler would engage with the HSE specifically in relation to that situation. Can I say more broadly, I mean government is very committed to this area, nobody wants to hear the story that you told, sorry we certainly want to hear it, nobody wants to hear of anybody experiencing the story that you told in terms of a teenage girl with multiple diagnoses, self-harming and in a very difficult situation and we are investing a lot and I take the point this doesn't help with the individual case you referenced but we are investing a lot in terms of CAMS and in terms of our mental health services and we have seen now as of February of this year we have seen around 72% of new or re-referred cases seen within 12 weeks, now that's an increase of 6% over the same period last year, I'm not saying there's not a lot more to do there is but the number of young people being seen in a more efficient manner by CAMS is thankfully increasing and then crucially because they reckon there's only around 2% of children and young people in the country who should require the support of CAMS, 97% of what are called urgent referrals to CAMS are responded to within three days and so that's an important point too that may well not be the experience of what you said there but that just is the information that I have available. I don't think this case has been brought to the attention of Minister Butler, it does sound to be particularly complex and I don't say that in any way to pass the book but obviously sometimes there can be clinical complexities but I would ask that you would link with Minister Mary Butler who is I know a very compassionate and hard-working Minister as well. Specifically in relation to CAMS teams in Offaly, I think there's a clinical whole-time equivalent of 8.6 on the team, now being truthful the national average is 8.9 so it's a little bit below the national average so let's see what can be done in relation to that. I'm told though that 100% of urgent referrals in Offaly are responded to within three working days. The team does have the second highest open caseload in the region and I'm told that that's evidence I suppose of the complexity of the challenges, in other words when you see a young person, the file often remains open for a long period of time because of that ongoing need for care as well and there are 96 children waiting for their first appointment with that team as well but in front of you raising this, Deputy Nolan, if you could link with Minister Butler I'll speak to her today on it and I know she will highlight this issue within the HSE, the specific issue. On the broader issue we're going to continue to resource CAMS and we'll spend over 119 million on it this year as well which is an increase of 40% since 2022 but I accept there's a lot more to do in this area. Thank you for your response and indeed your assistance. Look I did inform the HSE directly about this situation, I received an acknowledgement but I will reach out to Minister Butler and with the consent of the parent I will I will pass on all details. My concern here really is that this is an emergency situation and you know it wasn't treated as such in Offaly CAMS. I mean for any parent to be told that they may get an appointment or could get an appointment at the end of September, early October when the child is clearly in distress isn't an emergency response and it hasn't been treated as an urgent case. I know you make the point of the staffing levels not being up at 8.9 in Offaly as it should be nationally but I would ask that in the upcoming budget that Offaly is prioritised in terms of staffing in Offaly CAMS because I'm sure and I'm dead certain that we're going to have more cases like this if we don't act in time and if we're not proactive. But I appreciate your constructive response and indeed your empathy in relation to this situation. I think we're more and more seeing and I say this more as a comment but we're more and more seeing real complexity when it comes to our younger people and more and more young people with more than one clinical diagnosis and I certainly am no doctor or expert but for my engagement with many and my engagement with parents often that does provide a real challenge, one that needs to be met in terms of how you meet the multiple needs across multiple diagnoses. I don't know what happened in this situation and I don't want to comment without knowing all of the details though obviously taking you at your word but it is clear that the system does need to know the difference between an urgent referral and a non-urgent referral and the statistics given to me that I read out here tell me that urgent referrals are responded to within three days but is what is the classification of an urgent referral and I think is perhaps an interesting question. So look Minister Butler will work with you in relation to this very complex individual case and more broadly in the budget which is in the 6th of October, government will work closely with Minister Cara MacNeill and Minister Butler on the issue of the resourcing of CAMHS and I'll ask that the ministers take a look at that point you make in relation to Offaly and come back to you directly.