Mental health minister Jim Daly has pledged that best practices guidelines for mental health facilities will be circulated among providers after calls in the Dáil for stricter regulation and better care for children.
Mental health facilities are in dire need of regulation, staff and an overhaul particularly for the care of children, Fianna Fáil warned.
Party spokesman on mental health James Browne highlighted “dirty”, “unfit” facilities and said in some services there are barely any specialised staff to care for children with challenges.
Budget funds are being spent on agency staff, he argued, and an estimated 2,600 children and young people are on waiting lists for a mental health care appointment.
Fianna Fáil used its private members motion in the Dáil to highlight gaps in mental health services, particularly for young people.
Improvements were also needed, argued Mr Browne, as suicide was a leading cause of death of 15 to 24-year-olds.
“Staffing levels remain a serious concern, with services in some parts of the country having fewer than half the recommended number of staff required for child and adolescent mental health services set out under A Vision for Change [a government programme].
This has a huge impact on waiting lists, with the most recent figures revealing more than 2,600 children and young people on the list for an appointment, and over 300 waiting for more than a year.
Early intervention for children with mental health issues is critical. But for children with an intellectual disability such as autism or Down Syndrome, who also have mental health issues, a lack of early intervention is nothing short of cruel,” added the Opposition TD.
Overall, there are large parts of the country where unqualified staff are in services for children and these need to be regulated, argued the TD.
Fianna Fáil also wants a permanent Oireachtas Committee on Mental Health set up and the implementation of long overdue legislation in the area.
Responding to the motion, Minister Daly said he wanted the Mental Health Commission to record and highlight best practices among care facilities.
I intend to ask the Mental Health Commission to carry out an exercise in identifying areas of best practice in Approved Centres that achieve full, or high, compliance, and disseminate these examples of best practice across the system, in an effort to help Approved Centres struggling with low compliance.
Mr Daly said that the government would not oppose the Fianna Fáil motion and would double efforts to improve standards at mental health facilities.
The new 170-bed national forensic hospital at Portrane, Dublin, is scheduled to complete construction later this year, and is expected to open around mid-2020 following equipping and construction, the minister added.
Furthermore, a patient advocacy service had been set up by health chiefs earlier this year that will help provide a "free, independent and confidential" system to help those who wish to make a complaint about health facilities, the Dáil was also told.