The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly appeared on Morning Ireland where he defended the HSE despite a number of ongoing struggles in the system.
Minister Donnelly revealed he is to seek Cabinet approval to legislate for the abolishment of public hospital charges and also commented on the damning report into youth mental health services released yesterday.
The interim report, carried out by the Inspector of Mental Health Services, Dr Susan Finnerty, was published by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) on Monday and revealed the state is failing children in Ireland.
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The report published on Monday found serious issues including that more than 100 mentally ill children, some that were on medication, were left for up to two years. without care by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Camhs).
In one area, there were 140 “lost” cases within the local CAMHS team.
On the CAMHS issues, Minister Donnelly told Morning Ireland: "I as Minister am responsible, Government ultimately is responsible, we have invested a lot of money, we've sanctioned a lot of extra staff, however it is a serious report, I take it very seriously. Minister Butler takes it very seriously."
"Minister Butler on the back of the Maskey report last year wrote to the Mental Health Commission, Minister Butler was looking for this work, so it can be responded too, it's important, myself and Minister Butler are determined the issues will be address, and responded to."
Speaking on the report from South Kerry, the presenter asked Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly "where is the accountability?"
To which he responded: "This interim report has come out of the report into South Kerry, and has kicked off several pieces of work, the HSE is now doing a look back audit in Kerry North, one of the calls from the report is a review of all open and child adolescence cases that haven't been looked at for 6 months, the HSE is doing that."
"There are governance issues, capacity issues, and there is more that can be done."
"Over the last 2 years, there's an extra 500 people hired into mental health services, a portion of these into CAHMS, not all of the staff are in a specialist role, we're bringing in a new consultant contract." he added.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has claimed issues in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Camhs) can be better addressed if two organisations representing senior doctors agree to sign-up to a new contract for consultants.
Through her report, Dr Finnerty also found evidence that some CAMHS teams were not monitoring antipsychotic medication, in accordance with international standards.
Some children and adolescents who should have received follow-up appointments – including reviews of their prescriptions and monitoring of medication.
Consequently, some children were taking medication without appropriate blood tests and physical monitoring that is essential when on antipsychotic medication.
In some cases when people turned 18, there was no planning, discharge or transition to adult services.
The report found that all CAMHS teams were significantly below the recommended staffing levels, “less than 50%”, this resulted in long waiting lists and lack of staff capacity to carry out many therapeutic interventions.
Minister Donnelly also spoke about the planned abolition of patient charges on radio this morning. Patients are currently charged €80 per visit, there is an annual cap of a maximum of 10 days or €800.
He says he hopes the laws to scrap the charges will be in place by April.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Stephen Donnelly defended the HSE and said “in the coming months, that it will be abolished.”
The Government's intention to remove public hospital charges was announced as part of Budget 2023.
Previously in 2022, the Government abolished the charges for children under 16.
He says the charges put an added strain on patients who are already sick, "The Irish Cancer Society has been advocating for this measure for many years."
"People who are suffering from cancer and are going through treatment, not only have they got to deal with all of that but then they get hit with a bill."
"We've heard stories of hospitals retaining debt collection agencies to recoup this money, and it's something we just need to see the end of."
Several listeners reacted on Twitter to Minister Donnelly’s comments on the CAMHS report and abolishing hospital charges.
One said: “Stephen Donnelly is once again reflecting on recommendations in a report and not acting. But hey another director for a dysfunctional service, a bit of covid as an excuse and a bit of window dressing while our children don’t get seen #morningireland #HowIrelandWorks #cahms”
While one said: “What an absolute shambles of a service. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Consistently failing children in every corner of Ireland. How on earth is @DonnellyStephen still in a job?”
A third said: “Great to see the abolition of hospital charges is being brought to Govt for approval by @DonnellyStephen Getting rid of this €80 charge & the debt collectors who chase it will help families affected by cancer @IrishCancerSoc”
Meanwhile, the Tánaiste said the findings of the CAMHS report are "unacceptable".
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Micheál Martin said: "I think it's unacceptable, very, very concerning."
He said there was an ongoing review of what had happened, but that the HSE had engaged with every child that was not catered for adequately by the CAMHS service.
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