CHO4, which covers Cork and Kerry, had the longest wait time for children with suicidal intent, at 60 days.
“How can such a disparity between CHOs exist?” said Mr Ward. “We need to do away with the postcode politics that exist within Camhs and the wider health service. “I am calling on the Government to fund the National Clinical Programmes for mental health and to prioritise reducing wait times for suicide-related assessments in Camhs. These unacceptable waiting times cannot be allowed to continue.”
“We talk about Camhs all the time but really what we must be talking about is youth mental health. Camhs is for one in 50 children. It is for the children who need the most significant support,” he said. “The reality is that the level of access throughout the country is different and there are different levels of performance and productivity.”