Mental Health Services

1117. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she is satisfied that reporting counselling activity on the basis of total sessions, rather than unique patients, provides an accurate basis for service planning and policy development. [29929/26]

1118. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has conducted any analysis comparing total counselling sessions delivered with the number of individual service users; and if so, to provide the findings. [29930/26]

1119. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the current KPI framework for counselling services includes any requirement to report average number of sessions per client; and if not, whether this will be introduced. [29931/26]

1120. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any independent audit or external validation has been carried out on National Counselling Service activity data in the past five years; and if so, to provide details. [29933/26]

1121. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the extent to which manual data handling processes are involved in the compilation of counselling service statistics; and whether her Department has assessed the associated risk of data error or inconsistency. [29934/26]

1122. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has issued any formal guidance or standards governing how counselling activity data should be recorded, validated, and reported across Health Regions. [29935/26]

1124. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she will commit to introducing a standardised national reporting framework that includes both session-level activity and unique patient-level metrics for counselling services [29937/26]

1125. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department maintains any central dataset capturing the total number of individuals accessing State-funded counselling services annually, and if not, the reason for same [29938/26]

1126. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any international benchmarks or best practice standards have been considered in the design of Ireland's counselling service reporting framework. [29939/26]

1127. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she considers the current reporting model sufficient to assess waiting list pressures and unmet demand within counselling services. [29940/26]

1128. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed whether multiple attendances by the same individual within a reporting period may distort national activity figures, and if so, to provide details. [29941/26]

1129. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any reforms are planned to align counselling service reporting with outcome-based or patient-centred metrics, rather than activity-based metrics alone. [29942/26]

1130. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Business Information Unit or any other body conducts consistency checks or reconciliations across regional submissions for counselling data. [29943/26]

1131. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any discrepancies or anomalies in counselling activity reporting have been identified in the past three years, and how these were addressed. [29944/26]

1132. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she will provide a breakdown of counselling activity by new versus returning clients, if such data is available. [29945/26]

1133. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has considered publishing transparent public reports distinguishing between total sessions delivered and total individuals treated. [29946/26]

1134. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether she will commit to a review of data governance arrangements underpinning mental health service reporting, including counselling services. [29947/26]

1135. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department maintains or has access to a single, centralised national dataset capturing total counselling activity across all Health Service Executive regions; and if not, the reason for same. [29948/26]

1137. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed the extent to which counselling activity data reported by individual Health Service Executive regions is directly comparable on a like-for-like basis; and if so, the findings of that assessment. [29950/26]

1138. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any national-level validation, reconciliation, or consistency checks are applied to counselling activity data submitted by Health Service Executive regions; and if she will outline the mechanisms in place. [29951/26]

1139. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether counselling activity data collected by the Health Service Executive is subject to periodic internal audit or independent external audit; and if so, the frequency, scope, and most recent findings. [29952/26]

1140. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed the risk that multiple attendances by the same individual within a reporting period may lead to inflated activity figures in counselling service reporting; and if so, the outcome of that assessment. [29953/26]

1141. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any national reporting framework for counselling services includes outcome-based or patient-centred metrics, in addition to activity-based measures; and if she will provide details. [29954/26]

1142. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has established any formal governance framework to ensure consistency, accuracy, and completeness of counselling service data across Health Service Executive regions; and if she will outline same. [29955/26]

1143. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any timelines, milestones, or implementation targets have been set under the Digital for Care 2030 framework in relation to the development of standardised national reporting for counselling services; and if she will provide details. [29956/26]