17
Feb 2020
Government urged to improve children’s mental health services
Within the Children Commissioner for England’s recent briefing, ‘The state of children’s mental health services’, it has been noted that whilst improvements have been made to the NHS’s mental health services for children, it is evident that there is a large gap between what children need and the current provisions.
Anne Longfield noted that around £60m has been invested into this area, which has seen a huge positive impact upon eating disorder services in particular. It is concerning to note, however, that only 1 in 4 children with diagnosable mental health issues are being referred to services.
Furthermore, it was noted that the average waiting time for referrals to services is 8 weeks. Where this has been targeted, particularly in respect of eating disorders, this has proven to be reduced by 50% to 4 weeks. Clearly, this exemplifies the need for ongoing structure in the provision of children’s mental health services. To this end, formal statutory notices have been sent to a number of areas which are statistically falling behind.
One suggestion made in the briefing was that there be permanent implementation of a counsellor in every school within England. It is thought that this would be massively beneficial to children and provide them with consistency and support when it is most necessary. The current “postcode lottery of care” is far from adequate in ensuring every child’s needs are met, yet the NHS spending for children’s services is on average a mere 1% of the budget. As a result, the Children Commissioner has urged that action needs to be taken by the Government sooner rather than later.
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