HSE figures
A Kildare GP has said that the number of young people accessing mental health services is far greater than what the HSE is reporting.
According to the HSE, More than 11,700 children and teenagers accessed child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) last year by the end of November, 20 per cent above the demand was expecting for the year.
A total of 11,703 children and teenagers were re-referred or newly referred to Camhs community teams in the year leading up to November, compared with an expected activity level of 9,338, according to data released by the HSE.
Some, 3,357 children were still waiting to access Camhs by the end of November, the highest such number since 2015, when there were 3,100 children on this list.
Some 1,686 of these were “expected to be seen within three months”, the HSE said, while the wait time for the remaining 1,671 is unknown.
More than 6 per cent of those on the wait list, 221 children, had been waiting more than a year to be seen, according to the HSE.
The waiting list for appointments with the child and adolescent mental health services has been stuck at at least 2,500 for years.
Camhs offers specialist clinical services to children and teenagers under 18 with moderate to severe mental health difficulties.
Kildare GP Brendan O' Shea was adamant that the real number is vastly greater than that.
" A significant amount of money is being spent on this and I wonder If the solution is to keep throwing money into the system?
"Thousands of young people in Kildare have mental health issues," he said.
"We see significant anxiety, depression, substance abuse in our practices," he insisted.
" From general practices, we want a different service that would allow us to intervene earlier," he added.
Kildare GP, Assistant Professor for Primary Care at Trinity College and Kildare Faculty of the ICGP, Dr. Brendan O' Shea spoke with Clem Ryan on Wednesday morning's Kildare Today:
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