6,000 children resorted to emergency departments for mental support since 2019

Included in those were 999 children who have attended emergency departments so far this year, 429 of whom have been admitted. File picture

Some 6,471 children have presented to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) emergency departments for mental health support since 2019.

Included in those were 999 children who have attended emergency departments so far this year, 429 of whom have been admitted. Since 2019, 40% (2,581) of those who presented to CHI emergency departments were admitted.

Those aged 15 were the largest age cohort to present to emergency departments, with 1,414 attending since 2019 while 1,628 attendees were aged 12 or younger.

Separately, 4,421 young people remain on Camhs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) waiting lists, 735 of whom have been waiting for at least a year. Some 1,808 have been waiting 12 weeks or less while 1,878 have been on a waiting list for between 12 and 52 weeks.

As of July, the waiting times for Jigsaw services in Cork remain the highest across the country at 15 weeks, in line with Meath. Jigsaw is funded by the HSE to provide youth mental health services for those aged between 12 to 25 with mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

National Mental Health Services General Manager, Tony McCusker, said recent months have seen reduced wait times for Jigsaw services.

He said this is due to the “acute attention” that is paid to actively managing capacity across the Jigsaw network, while also employing a flexible response to young people’s needs via extended opening hours and options of care, including video consultations.

The figures were provided by the HSE to Sinn Féin TD and spokesperson on mental health, Mark Ward.

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He said the number of those attending emergency departments is a direct consequence of successive Governments failing to invest in youth mental health care, “which now faces a perfect storm of problems”.

“It is even difficult to get an appointment with a GP. All of these are leaving parents and young people no other option than to go to an emergency department in a time of mental health crisis.

“Emergency Departments are not the place for anyone suffering from mental ill-health, especially a child. Early intervention is key and children are simply not getting this early intervention,” he said.

Mr Ward said Sinn Féin would prioritise Camhs inpatient capacity as well as developing a liaison psychiatry model of care within emergency departments “to ensure that those in crisis are given appropriate care when they need it”.