Mental Health: Young People

Baroness Fall Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2017 Grand Committee

[Baroness Fall (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Massey of Darwen, for securing this important debate and for drawing our attention to the pivotal role that parents play in supporting young people with mental health problems. We bring our children into a complex and difficult world, in which the lines between private and public are blurred and which operates 24/7 in 360 degrees through the likes of Facebook and Instagram. Our children never get a day off. Of course, older generations have always gazed with incomprehension at their children, bemoaning the lost values of their youth, and we are no different. Nor are we unusual in wanting to do our best for them, not just because as parents it is our duty, but also because we have an obligation as a society to care for our young. They are, after all, our future.

I am deeply troubled by the serious rise in mental health issues among children and young people in Britain today and the often inadequate help they are receiving, which puts enormous strain on them and their families. A lightning review by the Children’s Commissioner in May last year stated that as many as one in 250 children were referred to what is known as CAMHS by professionals. Of those, 28% were not allocated a service at all and 58% went on a waiting list. These are children in desperate need of help, who are often being turned away or asked to wait a long time for treatments, left with no one else to turn to but their parents. Parents often try to do all they can to help, but they are not trained specialists and can feel alone and overwhelmed by the responsibility and at times frightened for the safety of their child.

The recent paper “There for you” says:

“The practical impact on parents can be extensive. In order to care for their young people, many have to take time off work, go part-time, take unpaid leave, or resign from jobs entirely”.


There seems to be a corrosive combination of factors at work: a rising demand for help; frozen health budgets; a system of tough thresholds, which means that many referrals are turned away altogether; and long, painful waits for those who are lucky enough to get referred. Too often, by the time help is at hand the situation has deteriorated and the child may face no other option than being admitted to hospital. That is a terrible outcome for everyone. Taking the child out of their social environment, away from their families and friends, can make recovery times far longer and more painful and puts enormous pressure on parents, given that many of these places and sought-after beds are in hospitals miles away.

We have a serious problem, but one that I hope we are finally waking up to. I commend the Government’s recent intervention in this area and look forward to hearing more when their Green Paper comes out later this year. I especially welcome their focus on training teachers in schools, although I hope that that is extended to primary schools, where mental health issues so often begin.

However, diagnosis is one thing; treatment is another. We will never get to the heart of this problem while there are still rigid thresholds, rejected referrals and unacceptable waiting lists. We must try to intervene earlier and more aggressively. I also wonder whether we should not be looking for more creative solutions, working together with schools and the voluntary sector—perhaps in setting up drop-in clinics where parents and children might seek support from outside the system.

I welcome the concerns echoed across the Committee today and ask that we keep our eye on the ball, for we cannot afford to let things go on as they are.