NEW consultants appointed to deal with growing waiting lists in child and adolescent mental health services only have one third of the frontline staff they need and often have no premises from which to work.

MONEY should not be an issue when it comes delivering mental health services for people who are still marginalised and stigmatised in Irish society, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health has said.

Urgent action must be taken to reduce waiting lists for psychiatric consultation which stand at more than 12 months in many areas of the country, it was claimed today.

A CONSULTANT psychiatrist has described a €70,000 mental health strategy report for the largest health board region in the country as “an undergraduate dissertation that was put together in a rush”.