CAMHS failure shows we have not learned from CervicalCheck

FOUR years ago, a mother in south Kerry sought help for her son from CAMHS, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Two years of what she describes in this newspaper today as ‘hell’ followed.

Last week’s Maskey report on CAMHS in the region was devastating for the family.

In a review of 1,332 children treated by a junior doctor, it was revealed that 227 had been exposed to ‘significant’ harm, while 46 had suffered ‘considerable’ harm.

The report concluded there was no clinical lead in these cases and, despite concerns about the doctor’s prescription practices, no action was taken.

Early last November, the affected families received a letter from the HSE informing them that their children might have received incorrect treatment, and an apology for this negligence.

The families did not receive the report in advance of its publication, and were not informed of the date on which it would be released.

Since then, they have received no correspondence.

Families cannot assess the level of harm inflicted on their children.

Anyone who sees change in a child cannot evaluate whether that harm is significant or considerable – all they know is that the bright boy or girl who used to play sport or joined other clubs now prefers to stay in their bedroom.

For this boy’s mother, the waiting game is agonising. She needs to know the answer to a simple question – is her son among the group most seriously affected?

‘He was sedated for two years,’ she says.

‘If he is not part of the 46, what on earth was going on with the others?’

Fortunately, having been taken off these medications last year, a traumatic process in itself because of the difficult withdrawal symptoms, her son is back playing sport and mixing with friends.

But serious questions remain, and the principal ones are these: have we learned nothing from CervicalCheck?

Do we still think that keeping people in the dark will make the problem go away? Is the protection of the institution more important than the welfare of the patient?

Above all, can we trust the root-and-branch audit of CAMHS nationwide?

If this could happen in one region, have thousands been failed by the system?

Every patient who attends any HSE service deserves worldclass care, but the potential destruction of a child’s life, before it really has begun, really is an egregious failure to give the most vulnerable the vital care that they need.

More worryingly, it is a potential barrier to parents seeking help at all, with perhaps even more serious and tragic consequences.