Children’s Commissioner accuses CAMHS of ‘playing Russian roulette’ with young lives

By The Press Association28th May 2016News EnglandChildrens Services, Mental Health, News England, NHS

More than a quarter of children referred for mental health support in England last year were sent away without help, including some who had attempted suicide, according to a report.

A review of mental health services by the Children’s Commissioner discovered 14% of youngsters with life-threatening conditions were not allowed specialist treatment.

Even those with the most serious illnesses who secured treatment faced lengthy delays, with an average waiting time of more than 100 days.

Anne Longfield accused Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), the NHS body responsible for young people’s mental health services, of “playing Russian roulette” with young lives.

Average waiting times ranged from 14 days in a trust in north-west England to 200 days at one in the West Midlands, while around 35% of trusts said they would restrict access to services for children who missed appointments, the review found.

Around 28% of children referred for specialist mental health treatment last year were refused, mostly on the grounds that their illness was not yet serious enough to merit specialist help, it stated.

Ms Longfield said: “Children and young people consistently tell me that they need better mental health support but the information we have received paints a picture of provision that is patchy, difficult to access and unresponsive.

“Behind the stats are countless stories of children and young people in desperate circumstances not getting the vital support they need.

“I’ve heard from far too many children who have been denied access to support or struck off the list because they missed appointments. I’ve heard from others whose GPs could not manage their condition and who had to wait months to see a specialist whilst struggling with their conditions.”

The commissioner obtained data from 48 of England’s 60 child and adolescent mental health service trusts.

Ms Longfield told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “Over the last year I have had a constant stream of children, and parents, and indeed professionals, who have come to see me to tell me about their inability to get help when they really needed it.

“We have got children who have life-threatening conditions around their mental health who may be suicidal, they may have psychosis, who go to their GP and then they are turned away when they get to their specialist help.

“What we are seeing is a gap emerging between the help and support that GPs can offer, and the specialist services too, so GPs may deem that actually they can’t help the children, and they need specialist help, but the specialist services themselves are saying that they are not serious enough.

“I don’t know quite yet why they are being turned away, certainly being turned away, or indeed being put on a waiting list for up to six months, is clearly playing Russian roulette with their health.”