Families of more than 300 children treated by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in North Kerry have received copies of a review of their care, which was conducted following the discovery of deficiencies in the services there.
The report was sent to the families by registered post yesterday. It is expected to be published by the HSE later today.
Southern Editor Paschal Sheehy spoke to Mary, the mother of one of the children involved.
Mary lives with her family in an estate in Tralee, Co Kerry.
In 2019, her daughter presented to the North Kerry CAMHS service with low mood and anxiety, having been bullied at school.
The teenager was diagnosed by a doctor with depression and PTSD.
However, no proper assessment was done prior to these diagnoses being made.
She was prescribed with a combination of anti-depressant, anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety drugs.
One of the medications is not licensed for use in children with the teenager's diagnoses.
"I had no other option. I had to trust them and trust that they would look after my child, but they didn't. They did more harm than good"
Following its review of the girl's case, the HSE found she was diagnosed without a proper assessment, there was no clear rationale for the medication on which she was placed, there was no evidence of a discussion on the significant side effects and the monitoring of the impact of the drugs on her was inadequate and outside of standard practice.
Mary and her daughter received an apology from the HSE and senior CAMHS staff when they attended an open disclosure meeting in Tralee in December 2023, but Mary is angry about the treatment her daughter received.
Mary said she trusted CAMHS with her daughter's care and she feels betrayed that she wasn't cared for properly.
She added that the medication "destroyed" her daughter's quality of life.
"It destroyed her," Mary told RTÉ News.
"The medication destroyed her. She wasn't the child she used to be. I know she was bullied, but then and all there were times she was happy, but there was no happiness - it was all sad.
"It did destroy her. It took everything from her. She had no friends. She didn't go out. She just couldn't. She wasn't able to function. She could function inside, where she felt safe, but not outside."
'It was all medication'
Mary said her daughter could sleep for up to 20 hours per day when she was on the medication.
She queried the amount of medication the teenager was on but trusted the medical professionals.
"I kind of thought why is she on so much, and then I thought, 'well, who am I to ask; who are we to ask'. One is supposed to be a professional. She's supposed to know what she's doing.
"There was no therapy. There was no psychotherapy. There was no play therapy. It was all medication.
"The first words every time was, you'd get ‘hello’ and then 'do you feel suicidal?' I mean, that's not a question you should be asking somebody that is very fragile. And that was the question that was asked."
"She lost everything. She lost friends. She lost a bit of a social life that she might have had. She lost confidence."
Mary said she feels betrayed for trusting North Kerry CAMHS to take care of her daughter.
"I trusted them to look after my child," Mary said.
She added: "I had no other option. I had to trust them and trust that they would look after my child, but they didn't. They did more harm than good. So now, you have to question everything."
Mary said the HSE revealed at the open disclosure meeting she attended with her daughter that her file showed evidence of potential harm and evidence of adverse outcome in her case.
They were told that the combination of medication on which she was placed with "not in line with standard practice".
"Now that she knows that she shouldn't have been on all of them [medications], she gets angry that someone could do that to her and, as she said to me, ‘I'm not alone in this; there's an awful lot more.’"
'There has to be accountability'
Mary said she doesn't accept the apology that was offered to her and her daughter at their open disclosure meeting, because the person who treated her daughter wasn't there. She said her focus now is on accountability.
"It's alright dishing out apologies. It's alright for everything, but there has to be accountability.
"I'm not the only parent. There are hundreds of parents like me. They're afraid for their children for what has happened.
"They need to be held accountable. If I do something wrong, I'm held accountable. I have to be held accountable for my actions so, yeah, accountability is top priority," Mary said.
She added: "The apology will never, ever be acceptable, because it should never have happened. Compensation: it won't fix my child. It won't give her back what she's lost.
"She lost everything. She lost friends. She lost a bit of a social life that she might have had. She lost confidence, and she actually lost how to think for herself, because of the medication she was on."
Mary said her daughter now has "good days and bad days", she has had counselling and she's hoping to go to college in September.
