Children are being refused treatment by the Carlow Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
It seems that even with a referral from a GP the services is not accepting new young people.
Carlow CAMHS is not accepting new referrals.
A concerned local mother got in touch with KCLR after being told a GP referral for her child had been refused by the local child and adolescent mental health service.
A letter from a CAMHS doctor claimed that they don’t have enough clinic space to safely assess and provide subsequent follow-up and treatment for any new children being referred to the service.
This is presumably due to Covid19 guidelines.
The HSE has been contacted for comment.
It’s as the demand for children’s mental health services has increased by almost a quarter since 2012.
The Department of Health says there are over 2,100 boys and girls on the waiting list for specialist care.
It will tell the Oireachtas mental health sub-committee today demand for mental health services has increased substantially in recent years.
For child and adolescent mental health services, it rose by 24% between 2012 and 2019.
Referrals increased from 10,700 to 13,200 over this period.
The department says, as of September, 2,137 boys and girls were on the waiting list for CAMHS.
It says this is down by nearly 200 on last December, but more needs to be done.
The HSE will tell the committee that Covid19 has brought new challenges to mental health services.
It points to a WHO report that shows the pandemic disrupted or halted mental health services in 93% of countries.
