Barnardos slam child services

CHILDREN’S charity Barnardos has slammed as ‘shocking’ the increasing numbers of children waiting to access mental health services in the Kerry/ Cork region.

The region was the only one highlighted by Barnardos in terms of mental health services, as the charity published its review of the last seven months of data last week which revealed that numbers of children waiting to access public mental health services doubled in the period in Kerry/Cork.

“Childhood is a time of rapid development - untreated speech and language challenges or mental health difficulties can severely impact a child’s ability to communicate, to learn, to develop relationships and to function in the world. The damage caused by lengthy delays in accessing services cannot be understated. Tragically, the longer a child waits for an intervention the less likely it is that treatment will be effective,” Barnardo’s Head of Advocacy June Tinsley said.

Nationally waiting lists for mental health services are slowly decreasing. But Kerry/Cork bucks the trend completely, Ms Tinsley added: “In September 2017 there were 2,333 children waiting for mental health services, this is a decrease of 9 per cent since February. This decrease is welcome, but worryingly there has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of children waiting longer than one year for their first visit.

“Again, there are widespread regional variations and shockingly, in the Kerry / Cork area, the number of children waiting for mental health services doubled during the seven month period. In an effort to combat these long waits and to save their children from unnecessary harm, those who can afford it, end up having to pay for private consultation. We know from our research that children from low income families are far less likely to be in good health than their wealthier peers.”