More than 900 young people on waiting list for mental health services in Cork

“Chronic underfunding and under-resourcing” in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) has been highlighted by the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, which has made several recommendations to overhaul the system.

It comes as the latest waiting-list data revealed that almost 40% of children on the Camhs waiting lists in Cork were waiting over a year for services. There were 921 children or teenagers awaiting mental health services across Cork at the end of December 2024, with 363 of these waiting for more than 12 months.

Urgent reform

Dr Patricia Byrne, chairwoman of the Faculty of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, said reform of the Camhs services was urgent.

“Camhs in Ireland has been beset by chronic underfunding and under-resourcing,” said Dr Byrne. 

“There have been failures to provide fit-for-purpose governance systems to facilitate Camhs development in line with the Government’s mental health policies.

“As a developed nation with a healthy budget surplus, it is unconscionable in 2025 that Ireland cannot adequately treat our very vulnerable young people who need help so badly.

A report published by the body on Tuesday said “services to address underlying needs are significantly under-resourced”, and that this can “expose children and young people to unnecessary risk of harm through misattributing symptoms of unmet needs as mental health disorders, or reliance on medication, rather than receipt of required therapeutic intervention via disability or educational psychology services”.

Recommendations

Key recommendations the college is proposing include that all staff working in Camhs should receive specialist Camhs-specific training, that specialist (consultant) child and adolescent psychiatrists must lead each Camhs team, the creation of a new senior management role, and the creation of a nationwide network of Camhs clinical directors to fulfil clinical and managerial roles.

Social Democrats Cork East TD and former clinical psychologist, Liam Quaide, told The Echo he was glad to see the issue highlighted, but questioned some of the recommendations.

Risk

“I welcome the highlighting in this statement of the chronic under-resourcing of Camhs and the risk this poses of an over-reliance on medication for young people,” he said.

“I would challenge the assumption that clinical leads on Camhs should automatically be psychiatrists. It is well recognised that young people’s mental health difficulties are often complex and multi-factorial, and it is accepted practice in the UK for some Camhs teams to be led by other disciplines.

“I’d also be concerned with the proposal that all Camhs team members be clinically accountable to psychiatry as the clinical lead.

“Disciplines such as social work, occupational therapy, and psychology have their own governance structures and clinical autonomy, and their work should not be prescribed by another discipline.”