Some children with mental health problems are waiting over four years to get a psychiatric assessment despite evidence that long delays leave young people at risk of becoming chronically mentally unwell, it was claimed last night.
Figures supplied by the Health Service Executive (HSE) show more than 3,000 children are waiting for psychiatric assessments. The figures do not provide a breakdown of how long children have been waiting for assessments, although health officials have estimated it can range from weeks or months to years.
Research featured on RTÉ's Primetimeprogramme last night suggested waiting times for assessments can be up to two years in Dublin, three and a half years in Co Mayo and four and a half years in Co Kerry.
On the programme, Minister of State with responsibility for mental health Tim O'Malley appeared to blame consultant psychiatrists for many of the delays.
"We have seen in the other area of health, in the hospitals situation, when we brought in the treatment purchase fund, that some people, let's say, like having long waiting lists. It makes them kind of powerful, that they feel if they have a huge waiting list of 100 or 200 people waiting to see you," Mr O'Malley told RTÉ.
His comments angered consultant psychiatrists. A spokeswoman for the Irish Psychiatric Association said long waiting lists were a major burden for professionals who were trying their best to meet children's needs in an underfunded service.
The HSE's national care group manager for mental health, Martin Rogan, also appeared to distance himself from the Minister's comments. "We're bringing on eight new teams each year for the next four years. If we thought they (consultants) were a problem, we'd be cutting their numbers," he told The Irish Times. Mr Rogan conceded some waiting lists were "ridiculous", but he said delays were related to capacity issues and structural problems which the HSE was seeking to address.
He said new ways of assessing young patients had been adopted in Kildare where they reduced waiting times.
