‘Extra child mental health staff needed’
MORE than 1,500 healthcare staff are urgently needed if young people are to have adequate mental health services, a Fianna Fail TD claimed yesterday.
The party’s health spokesman James Browne said: “Just over half the number of staff required for child and adolescent mental health services are in place.
“For children’s mental health intellectual disability teams, the figures are truly shocking – 159 staff posts are required but just 12, that’s only 7.6%, are in place.”
Mr Browne said full implementation of the requirements called for under a 10-year mental health strategy, launched 13 years ago, is still a long way off.
He added: “It’s just not good enough.”