Donegal TDs say children ‘languishing’ on waiting lists due to mental health postcode lottery
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 In my own area in CH01, which includes Donegal, 294 children and young people are languishing on waiting lists
00:07 and over half of them are waiting over three months.
00:09 It's a postcode lottery for these children.
00:12 Children and parents who are desperate, who are anxious, who are desperately waiting for the support that they need.
00:18 Many who have dual diagnosis of mental ill health and intellectual disability continue to fall through the cracks.
00:25 And these children and young people are the most vulnerable in our communities but they've been failed over and over again.
00:31 I heard of parents talking at the Met with the Minister across the chamber and she was shocked.
00:36 But nothing has changed. That was July the Met with you, it's now August.
00:40 We have a situation in Donegal where one of our teams has no psychologist, no social worker, no occupational therapist.
00:47 This isn't unique anymore, it's no longer shocking.
00:49 It is the normal what parents and children have to put up with day in, day out as they're looking at their child who is anxious, depressed and suicidal.
00:59 Who is waiting in some cases for a full year to get that first appointment.
01:03 The unacceptable postcode lottery of care also continues to exist with certain counties receiving a far lower quality of care than others.
01:11 This is particularly the case in rural counties.
01:14 Last year it was found that in CH01, which includes my own constituency of Donegal, had the fifth highest waiting list for CAMHS in the country.
01:22 With a total of 367 young people on waiting lists.
01:26 I have been contacted by a parent in Donegal who has been seeking urgent services for her young child for a year and has been waiting for a first appointment with CAMHS for months.
01:36 It should never be the case that a child is forced to wait this long for a vital service.
01:40 This has become even more concerning recently with the announcement last month that Donegal's only child and adolescent counselling service has been forced to close.
01:47 This news has sent shockwaves throughout many Donegal communities and has caused significant stress and worry among young service users and their families.
01:54 The child and adolescent counselling service has grown massively in our county with over 15,000 counselling sessions delivered by 26 counsellors across 7 outreach centres in the last 6 years alone.
02:05 The fact that so many children across the county are now being stripped of their vital service because of a lack of funding, basically for one position to manage the whole thing, is an absolute disgrace.