At present, the HSE does not know the number of children in county Mayo awaiting an appointment with CAHMS, the Community Mental Health Services provided by Community Mental Health Teams.
HSE management admitted this situation to Castlebar councillor Michael Kilcoyne, in response to a recent question submitted by him to the HSE West Forum.
The Independent councillor asked the direct question – how many children are awaiting an appointment with CAHMS in Mayo?
The written response states “the waiting list for new referrals into CAHMS continues to increase due to a combination of unprecedented demand pressures and recruitment difficulties” … and goes on to state… “It is planned to introduce a system in the near future which would allow us to capture the data requested by you but at present there is no electronic Patient Administration System for CAHMS and we do not currently hold details on average waiting times as this is not feasible within the current resource allocation”.
The response then concludes that “per the most recently published reports, at month end January 2026 referrals accepted and waiting for an appointment with CAMHS in Mayo are : Mayo South – 73, Mayo North -11.
Councillor Kilcoyne spoke to Midwest News Editor Teresa O’Malley about the situation…
https://www.midwestradio.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/kilco.mp3