New Camhs youth and parent panels due to start within months, HSE says

The HSE said funding to Camhs has increased by over 30% to €181 million in the last five years, including €3m to address children waiting over a year to access the service. File photo

Youth and parent advisory panels are due to start operating in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Camhs) in the coming months, the HSE has said.

The bodies are part of HSE plans to improve the involvement of children and their parents in the running of the service.

In a statement, the HSE said funding to Camhs has increased by over 30% to €181 million in the last five years, including €3m to address children waiting over a year to access the service.

The statement was issued in response to research this week, carried out by senior psychiatrists and academics attached to Camhs, based on interviews conducted among families in Camhs.

This research documented: 

• Chronic staff shortages; 
• Staff burnout; 
• Over-medication of children; 
• Lack of therapeutic services; 
• Disrupted care to children; 
• Lack of services for neurodiverse children; 
• Parental unhappiness with attitudes of clinicians; 
• Abrupt end to care once child turns 18.

Families for Reform of Camhs, which has 1,500 members, backed the calls and said that despite acknowledgements of deficits in Camhs by the Government and the HSE, they see “no real reform or no real commitment to bring about change”.

The HSE statement said the Child and Youth Mental Health Office (CYMHO) was established in 2023 and published a three-year action plan in February 2025.

It said: “Among the plan's main aims are to improve consistency and safety in how care is delivered, improve accessibility and integration, and to ensure involvement of children, young people and their families in the design, delivery and evaluation of mental health services.

“Camhs now receives approximately €181 million in funding in 2025, an increase of 32% since 2022. In addition, approximately €127m was provided to community-based mental health organisations and NGOs.

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“A significant proportion of this funding is spent on services that provide support to children and young people. This significant investment reflects various funded service expansions over recent years.” 

It said dedicated funding of €3m was allocated in 2025 to target waiting lists focused on children waiting over 12 months to access Camhs.

It added: “In partnership with HSE Mental health engagement and Recovery and our voluntary and community partners, the CYMHO is currently establishing national youth advisory and parents' advisory panels. These will be rolled out in early 2026.” 

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland welcomed the research.

Dr Patricia Byrne, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Chair of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Faculty at the college, said: "Hearing the voice of the service user and their family is essential in developing CAMHS.

"In keeping with the findings of this study, the College has consistently called for the government to provide ring-fenced funding and a clear plan for CAMHS to address the chronic shortages in multidisciplinary staffing, failures in staff retention and recruitment, and ongoing deficits in required infrastructure and service pathways.

"The study has several positive suggestions and recommendations for staff training, for government and the HSE to formalise structures to enable the voice of the children and families to be heard at team level and at a service-development level."