Parents in Tipperary 'face an uphill battle' accessing mental health services for their children

Parents in Tipperary are facing an uphill battle to access services for their children, according to Local Election candidate for Thurles Dan Harty.

This is particularly the case regarding children’s mental health and disability services. Issues around accessing crucial assessments for children persist, and when a diagnosis is eventually secured, long waiting lists for treatment and supports is the next issue facing families.

Mr Harty said:

“I have been around the constituency speaking to parents for many months now, and I have noticed a consistent trend in terms of the problems parents face in accessing adequate services in both the disability and mental health sector for their children.”

“Long waiting lists for assessments, accessing the treatments/supports needed and securing suitable school places all contribute to the stresses families find themselves in.

“Long delays are having huge effects on children’s development, and the stress for parents ishaving a negative impact on families.”

“The Mental Health Commission’s report into CAMHS highlighted a number of issues with CAMHS, including children lost to follow-up, lack of monitoring of psychiatric medicines, unacceptable waiting times for high-risk referrals and many more operational issues.

“The first recommendation that was made by the Mental Health Commission in their report on CAMHS is to give the Commission the statutory powers to oversee and implement the remainder of their 49 recommendations.

“This needs to happen immediately.”

“Children in Tipperary deserve better mental health services.

“They should not have to wait to access mental health services.”

Mr Harty continued:

“In terms of the disability sector, the great work and service provided by Enable Ireland’s Children’s Disability Network Team in north Tipperary is currently being hampered by a serious recruitment issue.

“The CDNT currently caters for about 1600 children aged 0-18 in the region. Service users were recently informed that five vacancies in the service could not be filled.

Roles such as occupational therapists, psychologists and speech and language therapists are vital to the delivery of services.

“The roles that could not be filled came under section 39 employment contacts that currently receive 12.5% less pay than their section 38 HSE colleagues.

“It is clear that pay parity is needed across this sector for existing staff and for future roles as this is having a direct impact on the services that are available to families.”