Minister warns Labour on child mental health ‘sanctimony’
The Care Minister has warned Labour against adopting a sanctimonious attitude over mentally ill children, amid claims a crisis has engulfed the service.
Norman Lamb told MPs it is “highly undesirable” for children with mental health issues to be placed on adult wards rather than in specialist child adolescent mental health facilities (Camhs).
But he claimed Labour were treating the issue as an “entirely new problem”.
Mr Lamb was replying to an urgent question from shadow health minister Luciana Berger, who warned the Government had paid lip service to treating mental health on a par with physical health.
She said the coalition had brought “cuts and crisis”, adding she was appalled by an NHS England email sent last Friday which warned mental health trusts of a “national shortage” of in-patient beds for children.
Ms Berger said the email noted the shortage would make it likely that 16 to 18-year-olds would need to be admitted to adult wards.
In his reply, Mr Lamb told Ms Berger: “I would just caution first of all against sanctimony. This is not a new issue actually and indeed under the previous Labour government children did at times end up in adult wards.
“It’s highly undesirable, everyone recognises that, and we need to do everything we can to prevent it.
“But please don’t try and claim that this is an entirely new problem. It isn’t.”
Ms Berger raised the issue in the Commons after last Friday’s NHS England email warned of a shortage of beds for children.
She told Mr Lamb there had previously been warnings that cuts to mental health services had led to the predictable increase of children being sent to adult wards.
The Labour front-bencher told MPs that senior Care Quality Commission inspectors say under 18s should not be put on adult wards, asking Mr Lamb: “Why is NHS England issuing guidance that contravenes CQC advice?
“Adult mental health wards are no place for young people. But how can (Mr Lamb) be sure that even in emergencies adult wards can accommodate children and teenagers?”
Ms Berger also warned adult mental health wards are already operating “well over” their recommended capacity.
She questioned if £50 million of cuts to child and adolescent mental healths was resulting in high numbers of youngsters requiring care.
In her opening remarks, Ms Berger said: “All over England our child and adolescent mental health services are increasingly under pressure, and despite the best efforts of NHS staff the system is now in crisis.”
The Labour front-bencher said people were being sent hundreds of miles away from home for treatment and to police cells as there is nowhere else for them to go.
She added: “We are also hearing of young people getting no treatment at all.”
Mr Lamb hit out at Labour in his reply before insisting the Government had “significantly increased” the number of beds available.
The Liberal Democrat frontbencher said to Ms Berger: “When you say that you see increasing numbers of children held in police cells, please, I think we need to have some honesty and accuracy in this debate.
“Actually, the number of children who end up in police cells is falling, not increasing.
“The crisis care concordat, which was published last Friday, set a commitment that we end the practice of children going into police cells and we have an intention to legislate to ban that from happening, but the numbers are lower than they were previously so don’t please give any indication that it is a growing problem. You did give that indication.”
On the NHS England email sent last Friday, Mr Lamb said: “It emerged the number of general Camhs beds available was lower than in recent weeks.
“In response, NHS England implemented contingency plans including contacting existing Camhs providers to seek additional capacity and increasing the use of intensive home support packages to allow children and young people to be treated at home or on a non-specialised ward.
“NHS England has also contacted mental health providers to alert them to the immediate capacity issues in Camhs and establish what capacity existed in adult inpatient and community services to take cases on a temporary basis should this option be required.”
Mr Lamb also told MPs the number of NHS funded inpatient beds for children stood at 844 in 1999, 1,128 in 2006 and was now more than 1,400.
He said NHS England also previously found “relative shortages” in the south-west of England, Yorkshire and Humber, with the Government providing £7 million.
This allowed 50 extra Camhs beds to be provided for young patients in the areas with the least provision, Mr Lamb said as he noted 46 had opened.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2014, All Rights Reserved.