{"id":304992,"date":"2026-02-18T22:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T22:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304992\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T22:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T22:38:05","slug":"review-finds-209-children-treated-by-north-kerry-camhs-were-at-risk-of-potential-harm-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304992\/","title":{"rendered":"Review finds 209 children treated by north Kerry Camhs were at risk of potential harm \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 200 children being treated by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs)<\/a> in north Kerry<\/a> were at risk of potential harm, an independent review has found.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Health Service Executive (HSE) published a look-back review into the service, which raised concerns about high rates of prescribing of medication and low rates of therapeutic intervention.<\/p>\n

The report, conducted by Dr Colette Halpin, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, examined the care of 374 children who were active on the north Kerry Camhs team database in November 2022.<\/p>\n

Of these, 209 cases \u2013 56 per cent \u2013 were found to be at risk of potential for harm.<\/p>\n

In 12 files, the potential for harm was considered to be minor and these families received a letter outlining this fact.<\/p>\n

Fewer than five cases were considered to be at risk of major harm, while the remainder were at risk of moderate harm. All of these were offered open disclosure meetings.<\/p>\n

The review found 79 per cent of patients attending mainstream Camhs services in north Kerry were prescribed psychotropic medication, compared with 39 per cent in the HSE national audit of prescribing.<\/p>\n

Keith Rolls, a Tralee-based solicitor who represents more than 100 affected families, said they were \u201cabsolutely shocked\u201d by the findings, which he described as \u201cvery damning\u201d.<\/p>\n

The length of time it took to complete and publish the report has \u201ccompletely eroded trust\u201d between the families and the health service, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies want the opportunity to join the compensation scheme as was done for the south Kerry Camhs team. They need to be incorporated so they\u2019re not subject to any further distress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the grand scheme of things, there needs to be a full review taken since the clinician [at the centre of the report] started working, extending back to 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look-back review was commissioned following a report in south Kerry Camhs, which identified similar concerns.<\/p>\n

The doctor whose work came under scrutiny in the report is understood to no longer be practising medicine.<\/p>\n

Hannah N\u00ed Ghiolla Mhairt\u00edn, of Families for Reform of Camhs advocacy group said families are \u201cheartbroken and angry\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not just figures on a page. They are our children. We trusted a system overseen by the Health Service Executive to protect our children. That trust has been deeply shaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking following the report\u2019s publication, Minister of State for Mental Health Mary Butler<\/a> said the report identified \u201cfundamental care deficits\u201d, which have not been identified elsewhere around the country.<\/p>\n

Butler said it is her intention to extend the compensation scheme to the families affected by the review and she has spoken directly with the Attorney General in that regard.<\/p>\n

Butler will visit Kerry on Thursday and Friday to meet affected families and the regional health forum.<\/p>\n

Dr Amanda Burke, the HSE National Clinical Lead for Child and Youth Mental Health, said the report outlines the \u201cways in which many young people were failed by the mental health services that were provided to them\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the D\u00e1il on Wednesday, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> said there has to be \u201caccountability from a clinical perspective\u201d in the case of children who suffered harm while being treated by mental health services in south Kerry.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0More than 230 children harmed while being treated by south Kerry Camhs given compensationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Martin said \u201cthere will be a need for an extended look back in terms of absolute certainty for all cases\u201d, adding that he understood a referral would be made to the Medical Council in respect of what transpired. <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> told the D\u00e1il the \u201cnegligent prescribing practices had devastating consequences, which included psychological distress, cognitive impairment considerable weight gain, excess sedation and high blood pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 200 children being treated by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in north Kerry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1420,2120,61,60,7727,46481,3658,410,1843,43],"class_list":["post-304992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kerry","tag-mary-butler","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-mental-health","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}