Children’s Mental Health

Justin Madders Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

We should not be surprised that there has been a 77% rise in the number of children needing treatment for severe mental health issues since 2019. We have lived through extraordinary times, and the fallout from that will be with us for years to come. However, in respect of mental health services, as with much of the rest of the NHS and social care, we have been woefully unprepared for the challenges with which the last few years have presented us.

I had a conversation with someone who had been a clinical psychologist in CAMHS for more than 20 years, and who listed some of the reasons why we find ourselves in this position now. She told me that during the last decade, staffing had been hugely squeezed. Whenever someone left, their post was frozen and the money was used to meet savings targets; staffing levels consequently shrank considerably, adversely affecting service provision. She said that nearly all the staff were very hard-working, working far longer hours than they were paid for and well-motivated, but staff sickness levels became very high over the years because of the pressure on the staff, exacerbating the problems.

One respect in which the service suffered was the increase in waiting times for all referrals other than emergency risk assessments from three months to a year. At some points the waiting time did fall, but most young people were then put on another waiting list for therapy, so, overall, waits were still far too long. A year is such a long time in a young person’s life. The person I spoke to told me her particular concern about teenagers who were highly anxious and depressed to the extent of being unable to attend school and superficially self-harming: because they were not suicidal, they could not be assessed any more quickly. Imagine being in that situation—at times the feeling of helplessness must seem overwhelming. Concerningly, there were some young people who attempted suicide while on the CAMHS waiting list and were then risk-assessed when they got to hospital, which of course was too late. Of course, those are the children who actually got on the waiting list; last year, a third of young people were turned away altogether despite being referred by a professional.

It sounds very much as if rationing is in place. A child would not be turned away with a physical illness, but because mental health issues often do not manifest in an obvious way until there is a crisis, children can be shuffled around the system for months, if not years. That is not parity of esteem, and it is no way to treat vulnerable young people, but some of my constituents feel that that is what is happening to their children and that CAMHS needs to be continually chased before action is taken. Even when action is taken, it may be a referral to treatment but not what is needed, so another referral is made and the whole process starts again.

One constituent, who has had to give up their job to look after their daughter because she has been so let down, said:

“I think one of the biggest problems is no single person is responsible for her care so you never know who to speak to and who is doing what.”

That is heartbreaking to hear. I am afraid that it is symptomatic of a system that is stretched beyond breaking point.