0:00
Back home, the Minister with Responsibility for Mental Health Mary Butler has announced the
0:04
extension of a compensation scheme for more than 200 CAMHS patients found to have been exposed
0:11
to potential harm following a review of the Child and Adult Mental Health Service in North Kerry.
0:18
Last month, the HSE published a review into CAMHS in North Kerry, which found that of the 374
0:25
cases recorded as active in November 2022, 209 people had been exposed to a risk of potential harm.
0:33
That was more than half of the cases reviewed. Our southern editor, Pascal Shihi,
0:39
has the latest developments. Pascal, can you take us through what the Minister has been saying
0:43
this lunch time? Okay, there are a number of elements to this Rachel.
0:49
principally, last month, we learned that there were over 200, 209 CAMHS patients in North
0:57
Kerry, who were part of a review that found that they had been exposed to potential harm.
1:04
We learned that last month, however, there was no avenue for those children to
1:12
and young people to avail of compensation for the harm and potential harm that they had been
1:18
exposed to. Mary Butter has put the meat and the bones of a compensation scheme this afternoon
1:25
that she said she would do when that review was published last month. And effectively what she is
1:32
doing is she is extending a non-adversarial compensation scheme under which there has already been
1:42
around 300 settlements to CAMHS patients in South Kerry. Sorry, this scheme will now be extended
1:53
and will be opened to CAMHS patients from North Kerry, those 209 patients who were found to have
2:01
been exposed to the risk of harm or actual harm in the case of their review. That's the first part
2:10
of what's being announced today. The second part is separate to the minister's announcement.
2:17
The HSC has announced that it is also extending the review that it undertook into CAMHS cases
2:28
in North Kerry. And this in a way, this was obvious that this had to happen because in more than
2:37
half of the cases that were reviewed and they were cases selected at a point in time in November
2:46
2022, more than half of those patients were found to have been exposed to harm. Now the HSC is
2:55
going the rest of the way and it is announcing an extension of the review of CAMHS patients in
3:04
North Kerry from November 2022 back to a time in 2014 when it assumed responsibility for the CAMHS
3:18
service in North Kerry. And that review will be undertaken by the existing team under Dr.
3:30
Khaled Halpen which conducted the review that was published last month. And the final part is
3:39
that if you are not covered by the review that I was already undertaken or the review that is about
3:46
to be undertaken, the extended review and you still have concerns, you can request your own
3:52
personal review. And if you were found to have been subjected to harm, the compensation scheme
3:58
will be thrown open to you as well. Pascale, many thanks for that. Our southern editor Pascale Shehi.