Shock revelations: Kilkenny CAMHS report details local referral waits and staff shortages

Shocking referral wait times and staff shortages have been revealed in a Mental Health Commission report into child and adolescent mental health services in Kilkenny.

The damning report was published this morning, Thursday. It also revealed that basic health checks before medication is prescribed, and ongoing health checks for young people on medication, are not always carried out.

The county is part of the HSE Community Healthcare (CHO)5 region, with a number of other counties, and per capita funding is shown to be well below the national average. CAMHS funding in the CHO5 area was E62.60 per head in 2022, while the national average was E85.30.

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According to figures in today’s report there is no waiting list for CAMHS services in Carlow/ Kilkenny. However, there is a waiting list of 140 people in the Waterford area.

Wait time was defined by the HSE as the time elapsed from the point at which the referral is received by a member of the CAMHS team to the day the assessment takes place.

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Some of the other stark findings of the report include:

• Risk training had taken place, but this was not mandatory. Some risks had been identified, such as lack of staff and poor facilities. A number of teams appeared confused about how they escalated local risk – whether they escalated to their line manager or the clinical lead, who was the consultant psychiatrist, or to both. Other risks such as lack of monitoring of antipsychotic medication had not been identified or addressed despite training provided.
• Sixteen years ago, a national health policy was launched, A Vision for Change (AVfC), which made recommendations for the number of CAMHS Teams according to population. In CHO 5, there should be 10 CAMHS community teams.
• Carlow/ Kilkenny has 51% of the staffing recommended under AVfC.
• Transitioning young people at 18 was reported to be difficult across CHO 5 and they were not always accepted by Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS). For example, a number of CAMHS teams stated that if Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was part of diagnosis, or the young person had ADHD, the young person was not accepted by AMHS. 

CHO5 includes counties Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary. Read a full report on the findings in next week’s Kilkenny People newspaper.

In a statement, the HSE/South East Community Healthcare welcomed the publication of the reports. "The HSE/South East Community Healthcare (SECH) understands the frustration felt by some families. The HSE/SECH wishes to assure everyone that it will listen carefully to any feedback on users’ experience of the service."