There is a shocking double standard in how mental health services for young people with intellectual disabilities are staffed compared with mainstream CAMHS. In mainstream CAMHS, multidisciplinary staffing is treated as basic good practice. Yet in CAMHS-ID teams, for a group of children with even more complex needs, there is a far lower standard set by the Government. There is not a single CAMHS-ID team in the country staffed to the level set out in the HSE's own model. The services overall are funded at only 43% of the recommended level. In some parts of the country, such as Cavan-Monaghan, these specialist services do not exist at all. Elsewhere CAMHS-ID services exist only in the most threadbare form with a psychiatrist working with one or two other colleagues. This matters enormously in light of Kerry CAMHS where children with intellectual disabilities and autistic children were among those most badly failed with little or no meaningful multidisciplinary intervention alongside extreme overprescribing and polypharmacy. How can the Government justify this lower standard of support for some of the most vulnerable young people in mental health services?

Sentiment score: -0.03