'Extremely poor facilities' for young mental health patients in region

Mould on walls, peeling paint, leaking roofs, sound-proofing issues and families being forced to wait on corridors were just some of the damning findings outlined in a new report into the child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) facility for Laois/Offaly.

The CAMHS facility, which is located in a 190-year old former district asylum in Portlaoise, was described as being “extremely poor and in need of considerable refurbishment in a report prepared by the Mental Health Commission, who were scathing in their criticism of the mental health service being provided to children and young adults in Community Healthcare 8 (CHO 8), which covers the six Midland counties of Offaly, Laois, Wesmeath, Longford, Meath and Louth.

The report identified 18 challenges to the provision of a proper service across all teams operating in CHO 8, and also highlighted the fact that children and adolescents with autism have “limited or no access to services.”

Among the other damning findings in the report across all teams operating in the Midlands area are staff retention difficulties with the authors stating that there is “a limited ability to recruit staff” to the CAMHS teams in the Midlands. The report also identified the loss of clinical expertise, a low number of team members relative to an increasing population, the absence of a dedicated CAMHS service for children with intellectual disability and moderate to severe mental illness, the lack of specialist eating disorder teams and the lack of a suitable IT system and electronic files.

The report also noted that there were difficulties in accessing child and adolescent mental health service inpatient beds, resulting in clinicians “trying to manage” children/young people who “pose a serious risk to themselves in the community.”

Moreover, the authors added that having “no access to day hospital or day programmes” also results in clinicians “holding risks” at community level.

A total of 605 children and young adolescents across the Midlands were on a waiting list to be seen by CAMHS team in March of this year, with 50 on the waiting list in Offaly (down from 63 in January). Funding amounting to €74.8 million for under 18s was allocated to the service in 2022.

In light of the serious shortfalls in the CAMHS service nationwide which were identified in the report, the Inspector of Mental Health Services has recommended that the service should be “immediately and independently regulated” by the Mental Health Commission and that a “comprehensive strategy” for CAMHS and “all other mental health services for children” be prepared.

The Inspector also recommended that the implementation of the report recommendations “must be monitored by the Mental Health Commission.”

As well as identifying 18 challenges to the provision of a proper service for those presenting to the child and adolescent mental health services in the Midlands, the report also looked at the strengths in the service, one of which was found to be the fact that an on-call rota system is in place overnight and at weekends. The authors also noted that there is “a good relationship” between CAMHS and the adult mental health services, and they also found that 82% of the children/young people sampled had “individual care plans”.

The report also highlighted the fact that there was a good filing system “in one team” and that art psychotherapy is also available “in one team”.