The Health Service Executive’s Fifth Annual Report of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) 2012 - 2013 illustrates the continued progress in developing mental health services for children, young people and their families. In the 12 months from October 2012 to September 2013, 9,616 new clients were seen by community CAMHS teams compared with 8,671 in the previous 12 months. This is an increase of 952 or 11%.In the same period, there were 12,022 referrals to CAMHS teams, a 21% increase on the previous 12 months.

The expansion of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) with an increased number of teams and inpatient services are key recommendations of the 2006 policy document “A Vision for Change”. There are currently 66 multi-disciplinary Child and Adolescent teams in place (60 Community teams, 3 Liaison service teams and 3 Day service teams). In 2012 an additional 150 new posts were allocated to recruit new allied health professionals for CAMHS Community Mental Health Teams and as at 30th November 2013, 134.5 of those posts are recruited. In 2013, a further 80 posts were allocated and by November 2013, 24 of these posts have been recruited. The Mental Health Division Operational Plan for 2014 sets out a target to have the balance of the 2012 and 2013 priority posts in place by the end of Quarter 2.

All community CAMHS teams screen children and adolescents referred to their services on the basis of the urgency of need. Children and adolescents in need of an urgent appointment are seen as a high priority while those with a lower acuity need may have to wait for longer. 50% of referrals are seen within one month of referral. Some 17,116 children (1.49% of population under 18 years) are availing of community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

The report provides a comprehensive update on the development of mental health services for young people and outlines progress in the development of HSE’s CAMHS services as outlined in the “A Vision for Change” policy. The CAMHS annual report provides important information on the number of new cases seen, waiting times for an appointment with a specialist team, and the types of mental health problems presenting to services, by age and gender.

The development of information systems to support the delivery of outcome focussed quality mental health services for our service users is a key priority for the Mental Health Division and the publication of this report today provides a foundation from which further work is being progressed. The initial steps in the development of performance indicators for General Adult and Psychiatry of Old Age Mental Health Services have drawn on the work in the CAMHS services. The Mental Health Division has committed to develop an information and data management framework to support performance management across the Division, utilising ICT in the short term to streamline data gathering and analysis and in the medium to long term to implement a clinical and management ICT system for Mental Health.