2,000 mentally ill children wait for assessment

AT least 2,000 mentally ill children are on waiting lists for psychiatric assessment and some will have to wait up to a year to be seen.

Others are in dire need of hospitalisation but have either to stay at home or brave adult psychiatric wards because there is nowhere to put them.

The Irish College of Psychiatrists (ICP) yesterday called for urgent action by the Department of Health and Children to deliver on promises to improve services in the sector.