• new funding represents an increased additional investment of €12.7 million developmental funding for mental health services in 2024
• government investment in mental health services is over €1.3 billion, an increase of over €250 million since 2020
  12% more CAMHS appointments offered to children and young people in 2023
• waiting lists for CAMHS services continues to fall, nearly 500 fewer children waiting by the end 2023
• new funding will be geographically spread and will focus on improving access to services, better integration between services and embedding innovative service models

Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler has today confirmed that she has secured an additional €10 million in funding for mental health services through the Revised Estimates process. The focus of this new 2024 investment funding is in the area of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This additional funding will support further recruitment into our CAMHS services and funding for other services for children and young people, which emphasise prevention and early intervention mental health supports. The funding will also support the further roll-out of the National Clinical Programmes for mental health services.

Minister Butler said: "Improving access to child and youth mental health services, and addressing CAMHS waiting lists, is a key priority for me. The additional €10 million in funding that I have secured for mental health will be focused on improving access to services, better integration between services and embedding innovative service models. Last year, we saw more children and young people seen by CAMHS teams, and my focus is on making sure this continues with more children being seen more quickly by the most appropriate service to their needs. "Increased investment is having a real impact. There were 12% more CAMHS appointments offered to children and young people last year. Our waiting list for CAMHS services continues to fall, with nearly 500 fewer children waiting by the end of last year. Additional funding this year will see more people working across CAMHS, with young people being seen more quickly. "My focus now is to expand CAMHS service delivery, as well as wider services for young people, and to expand the roll-out of our excellent National Clinical Programmes such as ADHD in Adults, Early Intervention in Psychosis and Eating Disorders to more areas of the country. "I have requested the HSE to develop proposals for the additional funding to advance these areas, and am pleased to confirm that there will be additional staff for CAMHS hubs, CAMHS Crisis Cafés, CAMHS Emergency Department Liaison posts, investment in a new single point of access to children’s services, investment in a full electronic health record for all CAMHS teams nationally, and additional funding to allow Foróige and Jigsaw to develop mental health services in primary care and community services, which focus on prevention and early intervention mental health supports. I will also be ensuring that funding allocations are geographically spread to areas of the country which have higher levels of need and where teams under our National Clinical Programmes have yet to be established."

Notes
The focus of the investment being confirmed today corresponds to the ‘stepped care approach’ envisioned in Sharing the Vision, our national mental health policy. This aims to enable an individual to avail of a range of supports and services as close to home as possible, at the level of complexity that corresponds best to their needs and circumstances, across a continuum of mental health services. This means accessing the mental health supports that they need, in the community in the first instance, at the level most appropriate to their needs – this could range from counselling and talk therapies through to support from their community mental health team, or access to more specialist services, up to an including inpatient and residential supports.

Details of the measures announced:
CAMHS Hubs: Additional staff for CAMHS Hubs to further roll-out this innovative service which provides enhanced intensive brief mental health interventions to young people in times of acute crisis. The CAMHS Hubs service provides an alternative to hospital admission

CAMHS Crisis cafes: Development of crisis cafe learning sites for young people with partner agencies to provide a community-based alternative to Emergency Department (ED) presentation. Crisis ‘cafes’ give young people in crisis a safe and supported place to go instead of ED, to have their needs assessed and a plan made to support them and provide them with appropriate services

CAMHS Emergency Department (ED) Liaison Posts: to assist young people who have presented to EDs with onward access to appropriate services including community CAMHS teams

Single Point of Access/No Wrong Door: Establishment of two test sites for the new single point of access to children’s services, where a single office takes referrals for primary care, mental health, and disability services. These sites will test a common referral pathway for children and young people aged 0-25. Developing a single point of access with a multi-service triage function are key recommendations of the Sharing the Vision Youth Mental Health Transitions reconfiguration plan for youth mental health, ‘Transforming Youth Mental Health Services in Ireland: A New Model’ (working document, planned publication by HSE Q2 2024)

ICT Investment: A full electronic health record for all CAMHS Teams nationally, a critical piece of infrastructure to enable CAMHS teams to work more efficiently and effectively

NGO funding
The government provides over €110 million to community-based mental health organisations/NGOs annually, with a significant portion dedicated to supporting young people. Minister Butler has increased funding for mental health and wellbeing supports for young people in their communities, for example, through Family Resource Centres, Foróige, youth clubs and NGOs such as Jigsaw and Spun Out. Across mental health services, the focus continues to be on early intervention and timely supports.