Cork and Kerry have longest child psych wait times

Children with significant mental health disorders in Cork and Kerry face far longer waiting times to access specialist mental health teams than anywhere else in the country.

Figures obtained by Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher show of 255 children nationally waiting more than 12 months to access community-based Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHs), 107 are based in the Cork and Kerry region. This figure accounts for 42% of the total.

Problems accessing CAMHs in the south are not confined to community teams. This week the Irish Examiner reported an emergency out-of-hours CAMHs on-call service at two Cork city emergency departments — Cork University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital — has been suspended indefinitely due to staffing problems.