Taoiseach Michaél Martin has said that the report into the care of 1300 children who attended the South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services run by the HSE is a “damning indictment” of the service.
It was announced that there will now be a full audit nationwide of the compliance of CAMHS.
It was found that 46 children attending the South Kerry service had suffered “significant harm” while they attended the service, the report published today stated. A review of the 240 young people attending the service found that the service did not meet the standards that it should have.
The review found that 227 children were exposed to the risk of significant harm due to diagnoses and treatment by non-consultant doctors in the service.
Some of the issues raised by the report was sedation, psychological distress, serious weight changes, emotional and cognitive blunting, growth disturbance as well as metabolic and endocrine disturbance.
There was also 13 other children who were unnecessarily exposed to risk of harm by being under the care of doctors in the service.
The HSE has since issued an apology due to the publication of the report. The report was sent to all the families involved in the report.
The nationwide audit will be conducted in 72 CAMHS services across the country. The Taoiseach has said that he has been in discussions with Minster of State for Mental Health Mary Butler and they are going to see what more can be done.
He stated that the report “doesn’t pull any punches” and “it is not the parents fault” as they were following the treating clinicians guidelines.
The report made 35 recommendations to the South Kerry service. These recommendations will be overseen by the HSE.
