Children’s Mental Health

Rosena Allin-Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House recognises the importance of Children’s Mental Health Week; is concerned about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the mental health of young people and that there has been a 77% rise in the number of children needing treatment for severe mental health issues since 2019; calls on the Government to guarantee mental health treatment within a month for all who need it and to provide specialist mental health support in every school, including a full-time mental health professional in every secondary school and a part-time professional in every primary school; and further calls for the Government to establish open access mental health hubs for children and young people in every community to ensure the best start to life for future generations.

This is Children’s Mental Health Week. I congratulate the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, which launched the first ever Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015. I also congratulate all the mental health charities and schools that are taking part in events this week.

The whole House will want to recognise the hard work and dedication of mental health professionals, campaigners, advocates, teachers, parents and guardians, especially over the past two years. So many mental health professionals have themselves suffered mental ill health, exhaustion and burnout. As we reach out to all the children and young people affected by poor mental health, we want them to know that we in this House are with them.

The pandemic has placed a huge weight on the shoulders of our children and young people. With schools closed, financial uncertainty at home, the exams fiasco and anxiety about the future, the pandemic has hit the poorest and most vulnerable children hardest. This highlights the inequalities in our society.

Children with chaotic home lives, children in overcrowded and noisy housing and children from black and ethnic minority communities suffer disproportionately from worse outcomes and worse mental health provision than white communities. Black children are much more likely to experience a mental health problem but far less likely to receive any support.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

I am interested in that comment because, of course, the Education Committee recently found that white kids from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have the worst educational outcomes. I would take issue with the hon. Lady’s point.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Perhaps he would like to understand that some white groups from poor socioeconomic backgrounds have such outcomes but, by far and away, it is disproportionately weighted against black and minority ethnic groups as a whole in this country.

There was a crisis in child and adolescent mental health provision in this country even before the pandemic made it worse. The latest report by the Children’s Commissioner shows that demand for child and adolescent mental health services—CAMHS—increased in 2020-21, with one in six children likely to be suffering from a mental health condition, up from one in nine in 2017.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that children and young people who have suffered cancer and had long spells of cancer treatment need mental health support, too? That should be part of the package. It should not be an add-on or something they have to search for; it should be part and parcel of their treatment.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Some children endure unspeakable circumstances that unduly affect their mental health in a way that we can never comprehend. It affects not just them but their family—their siblings and parents. I thank him for his intervention.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Unlike the UK Government here, the Welsh Labour Government are adopting a whole-school approach, viewing this issue holistically and offering a package of measures, while the English approach has been described as shocking and despicable.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

My hon. Friend is always a powerful advocate when it comes to the importance of positive mental health for young people. I have visited Wales and seen at first hand the fantastic examples of what can be achieved when Labour is in power.

One in six children are suffering with probable mental health issues, but only about a third are able to access treatment. Now things are getting worse: the Conservative cost of living crisis is causing more misery, uncertainty and upheaval in the lives of millions of children and young people. For weeks the House has been witness to the impact of that Conservative cost of living crisis on people and their families across the country.

Children are going to bed cold and hungry, and their life chances are impacted because they are unable to concentrate at school. Many are watching their parents worry and cry about being unable to pay the bills. Dragging an electric heater around the house before jumping under the covers just to keep warm because there is no heating—that, for too many of us, feels far too familiar. It is how my brother and I grew up, and it will stay with me forever. I had hoped that that perpetual fear of insecurity that never leaves one was a thing of the past, but sadly not: it is alive and well in Tory Britain in 2022. This is a “cost of Johnson crisis”.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)]

The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech that stems from her personal experience. One of the groups who seem to be falling off the cliff edge are 16 to 18-year-olds, because by the time they are referred to CAMHS, the waiting lists take them out of the range that CAMHS can deal with. Does the hon. Lady agree that that is awful, and is leaving far too many young people with nowhere to turn?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

The hon. Member is absolutely right. So many 16 to 18-year-olds find themselves on a waiting list for an extended period only to drop off it just as they turn 18, or else have one or two sessions, then turn 18 and find that there are no longer any services for them. That goes on to have a detrimental impact. This is not just a tragedy for today but a tragedy for tomorrow as well, because poor mental health in children is carried into adulthood. What happens today will impact demands for mental health services tomorrow. The old saying goes “Prevention is better than cure.” That is why we have a range of public health measures in place for children—check-ups for eyesight, hearing, and growth.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

A GP with a surgery in my constituency contacted me recently about a serious incident of attempted suicide. The child involved is now on the waiting list, but must wait a whole year to be seen. Does my hon. Friend think that that is acceptable, or do the Government need to take action as a priority for children’s mental health and wellbeing?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

My hon. Friend is entirely right, and that is why we are here today. Our children deserve better; they cannot go on like this. That is why we are talking about measures that can help to ameliorate these difficulties so that no child has to wait that long, and their families do not have to wait that long for answers. This is not okay.

[Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that among young people, black and minority ethnic young people often experience particular mental health pressures? There must be more analysis of the support that they and their families need.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

As always, my right hon. Friend is a powerful advocate for all groups, but particularly when it comes to black and minority ethnic groups. We do not have the data—we do not collect the data—even to understand the scale of the issue. I think that that is convenient for the Government, because it means they do not have to accept that there is a problem which needs to be dealt with.

That is one of the issues for the future. We have to understand the true scale of the issue when it comes to some minority groups, and tailor support that helps them specifically. When people from minority groups are seeking help, often it is so difficult for them to make a connection with people who understand some of the particular social pressures they live with at home and some of the societal issues they have to deal with that also contribute to mental ill health—for example, systemic racism. My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to bring that up.

We have a range of public health measures in place for children—check-ups for eyesight, hearing and growth—and vaccinations to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, yet we ignore the wisdom of the ages when it comes to children’s mental health. As a doctor, I know that adverse childhood experiences are a key contributing factor to poor mental health in adulthood. In A&E, I see increasingly younger children coming in having self-harmed or living with eating disorders. It is simply heartbreaking, and for parents it is absolutely agonising. Parents bring their children to A&E wondering why they are fainting repeatedly and are constantly exhausted.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree with me as a parent—we are both parents and many of us here are parents of school-age children—that the coronavirus crisis hit everyone with kids? I have 13 private schools within my constituency boundary, and I even have parents of children there emailing in that their kids, who were happy and outgoing children, are zonked in front of Teams meetings all day and have turned into blithering wrecks of what they used to be. Coronavirus exacerbated what was a problem with CAMHS all the way along and that has hit all children in this country, and the only people who will not recognise it are Conservative Members, who are in denial because they have their own internal problems to be dealing with.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

I thank my hon. Friend for her very powerful point. When it comes to mental ill health, no group is unaffected. It is really important that we acknowledge that, while some groups are disproportionately affected, mental ill health can affect anyone. Children can live in a £3 million house, and still feel they want to take their own life or want to self-harm. The pressure that puts on parents is extremely painful, and it causes many parents to give up their job to sit at home and care for their child, because they are so crippled and so worried about what may happen if they leave the house and go to work. That is why it is so important that we acknowledge the real difficulty we have with waiting times for CAMHS.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Given that the hon. Lady and her party, unlike me, were enthusiastic supporters of lockdown measures and closing schools, and were not prepared to stand up to the teaching unions, does she accept any responsibility at all for this mental health crisis among young people, because those lockdowns have had such a negative impact on our young people’s mental health?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

Do the right hon. Lady’s Government take any responsibility for the tens of thousands of children who are now bereaved as a result of losing their parents because of this Government’s shocking handling of the pandemic? We shall take no lectures from the right hon. Member and her party when it comes to protecting children’s mental health. I shall move on.

When children come to A&E—[Interruption.] Please feel free to intervene: I will take interventions.

[Edward Timpson (Eddisbury) (Con)]

The fact is that we are all in this debate this afternoon because we all care about the mental health of children right across the country. For me, this is an opportunity for us to use this precious time in the Chamber to try to find some common ground between us, so that we can move forward in a positive way and people watching can understand that there are things we can do to make their lives better. In that spirit, can I suggest to the hon. Lady that she look at my report on school exclusions, particularly at how we can ensure that teachers are better prepared at school, including with the mental health leads that the Government are bringing in, so that they understand issues such as trauma and insecure attachment and can enable children to get the support they need at the time they need it? That is the premise on which we should all move forward.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

The hon. Member highlights the point that mental health should not be a political football, which is why we hope that he will support the Opposition’s recommendations. I should be delighted if he sent me his report; I will read it with interest.

It is crucial that when a child comes to A&E or a hospital, doctors and nurses take the time to build trust with them as a patient so that they feel safe talking about their condition, but with waiting lists growing and the staffing crisis deepening, it is becoming all too difficult to find the time to build the trust and respect that every patient needs and deserves. That is the human cost of more than a decade of decline caused by under-resourcing and under-investment in our NHS and by the lack of a proper NHS workforce plan for the future.

The impact on entire families is crushing. Time out of school affects a child’s ability to learn and their later life choices and chances. Parents have to take time off work and sometimes leave their jobs as a result, and siblings are deeply affected. It should be a badge of shame for the Government that three quarters of children were not seen within four weeks of being referred to children’s mental health services.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

No doubt my hon. Friend is aware of the relationship between children’s mental health and air quality. Poor air quality can give rise to anxiety, depression, lesser focus and dementia, as well as mental health problems in unborn foetuses. Does she agree that more needs to be done, particularly in the most diverse and deprived areas where air pollution is worse? It is directly hitting children’s mental health.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

My hon. Friend is right to remind us that adverse childhood experiences and inequalities, including health inequalities, lead to worse mental health outcomes in later life and stop children from achieving their full potential.

Imagine being a mum or dad whose child is self-harming or presenting with symptoms of depression, anxiety or phobia, and being without specialist support for extended periods. We all agree that the pressure that that puts on families and parents is just so crippling. The number of children who needed specialist treatment for severe mental health crises between April 2021 and October 2021 was 77% higher than in the same period in 2019.

This is the UK in 2022. The bar to being seen by a specialist is high, the delays are long and three quarters of children were not seen within four weeks of referral. That time is one of anguish for them and their family. Does the Minister believe that making 369,000 children wait for vital mental health support is acceptable?

According to the latest report by the Children’s Commissioner, waiting times depend on where people live—so much for levelling up—and when they are eventually seen, services may be hundreds of miles away. It is making the situation so much worse. Ask any parent or any young person; they will tell us that the uncertainty and paucity of mental health services damages mental health, exacerbates mental health conditions, allows symptoms to persist and makes conditions harder to treat down the line. Ultimately, it also costs more.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

The mental health disorders with the highest mortality rate are eating disorders. What the hon. Member says is particularly true for eating disorders: the longer somebody waits for treatment, the longer the disorder persists, which makes it worse. We really need to look at prevention and early intervention in all our services. Does the hon. Member agree that instead of saving money at the wrong end, it makes absolute sense to put money into early intervention and, better still, prevention?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

I entirely agree. It has been a pleasure to work alongside the hon. Member in looking at eating disorder issues over the past couple of years; she is a powerful advocate. She reiterates my point that prevention is better than cure. We know that in the pandemic, eating disorders have increased. Young people who feel the loss of their sense of control through fear can, in trying to understand what is going on in their lives, develop habits that are unfortunately very difficult to break. We know that the earlier someone can intervene when there are such issues, the better the outcomes will be.

Sometimes the damage, especially the damage done by waiting, is permanent. Imagine if we treated childhood cancer like we do children’s mental illness: waiting for symptoms to get worse before seeing a specialist, waiting for months or even years for treatment and leaving patients and parents to rely on charity. There would be an outcry, yet that is what the Government are doing with children’s mental health. When the Minister responds, I invite them to tell the House what new measures the Government are taking, what new money is being allocated to CAMHS, and where it is going. How many mental health staff will be recruited? How will they deal specifically with the impact of the pandemic on mental health? How will they tackle the deep-rooted mental health inequalities on the lines of place, race, class and income?

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and showing her deep understanding of this important issue. She is absolutely right to mention the enormous pressure on families and on staff. Does she agree that there should be an important focus on the retention of skilled staff by the NHS and the Government?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. There has to be retention, and I will come on to focus on our plan to grow the workforce. I will make progress, because I appreciate that I have been talking for a long time, and I want as many Members as possible to be able to speak.

I would like the Minister to tell us how they will tackle mental health inequalities on the lines of place, race, class and income—not slogans, not rehashed announcements, but a real plan with real funding. I have no doubt, sadly, that they will rehash old announcements. This is all while the Department of Health and Social Care wrote off £8.7 billion on wasted PPE equipment.

[Tom Hunt]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Dr Allin-Khan]

I am afraid I have to make some progress. Labour has a plan for children’s mental health, and the next Labour Government will implement it.

The next Labour Government will guarantee mental health treatment within a month for all who need it, setting a new NHS target to ensure that patients start receiving appropriate treatment—not simply an initial assessment of needs—within a month of referral. The next Labour Government will recruit 8,500 new staff so that 1 million additional people can access treatment every year by the end of Labour’s first term in office. The next Labour Government will put an open-access mental health hub for children and every young person in the community, providing early intervention drop-in services. The next Labour Government will provide specialist mental health support in every school to support pupils and resolve problems before they escalate.

Labour’s plan will see a full-time mental health professional in every secondary school and a part-time professional in every primary school. The next Labour Government will make every week Children’s Mental Health Week, until every child has security, wellbeing and the support they need. Childhood should be a time of wonder and joy; a time to store up precious memories of friendship, holidays and play; and a time to experience the things that form us as adults, yet thousands of children are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression. We are failing them—failing on prevention, failing on access to treatment, failing on funding and failing on supporting their families—and the system is stretched to breaking point. The staff are exhausted. The children are suffering. It is all happening on the Government’s watch, and they are doing nothing about it. That is why I urge all Members across the House to support the motion.

[Several hon. Members rose—]