More than 300 children added to mental health service waiting lists in two months

Nationally, 1,059 under-18s were waiting for more than nine months for an appointment at the end of November. File photo

The number of children languishing on waiting lists to access mental health services jumped by over 300 in the space of two months.

This includes a 7% increase in the number of kids waiting for services in the HSE South-West region, Cork and Kerry, with over 1,000 children now waiting for appointments with mental health services.

Figures provided to Labour Party TD Marie Sherlock by the HSE confirm that 4,375 children were on waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) at the end of November.

This was up from 4,047 young people who were awaiting appointments at the end of September.

At the end of November, at least 588 people were waiting for more than one year for an appointment with mental health services in HSE regions across the country.

This included 335 children in the HSE South-West region who were still waiting for an appointment after 12 months. This was up from 305 children who were waiting at the end of September, an increase of 10%.

Nationally, 1,059 under-18s were waiting for more than nine months for an appointment.

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Camhs provide specialist mental health services to those under 18 years old who have reached the threshold for a diagnosis of moderate to severe mental disorder.

Ms Sherlock said she had “major concerns” about the number of children waiting for more than one year to be seen in the HSE South-West region.

“Early intervention is crucial for children with moderate or severe mental health issues, and unfortunately children are being failed in this regard,” she said.

“It is resulting in deteriorating mental health for children. It is those children, families, and teachers that are left picking up the pieces of a failure to provide timely care.

“There is an urgent need for an enhanced and more ambitious wait list action plan and for recruitment for Camhs, particularly in those areas of the greatest and longest standing need.”

“Figures released to my office by way of parliamentary question in April of this year found a 170% increase in the number of children on the primary psychology wait list awaiting treatment over the last three years.

This, combined with the Camhs lists, demonstrates a mental health service that is not able to provide an adequate level of service to children in crisis.

In response to a separate parliamentary question earlier this month from Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill, Mary Butler, minister of state with responsibility for mental health, said the number of children on waiting lists had fallen.

She said that while 4,475 children were on Camhs waiting lists at the end of November, this was down from 4,554 at the end of April. She also stated that there had been a decrease in the number of children waiting for more than a year, falling from 763 to 590.

The number of referrals to Camhs at the end of November stood at 15,257, up 11% on the same period in 2024.