Camhs in South Kerry 'an orchestra without a conductor', committee hears

HSE chief operating officer Anne O'Connor said  there wasn't a proper structure in South Kerry Camhs. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

The lack of a full-time consultant psychiatrist in South Kerry Camhs meant it "all fell apart", with the HSE promising a new audit will uncover any issues that may have occurred in other parts of the country.

The joint committee on health and sub-committee on mental health heard the HSE reiterate its apology for what happened in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in South Kerry, and also stories about one teenage girl apparently turned away from Camhs and who later took her own life, and of another child who had been attending North Kerry Camhs, where she was allegedly over-medicated, something which changed only when she transferred to South Kerry.