Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people aged 16 and 17 who miss health service appointments for reasons connected to mental health receive the necessary support and treatment.

The Department expects clinicians and professionals to work together in an integrated way across health and care system to support the needs of children and young people. This includes between professionals working in mental and physical health. This process should be supported by appropriate sharing of information to support the individual’s care.

“Future in Mind,” the report of the Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Task Force, published in 2015, also sets out the importance of services monitoring attendance and suggests that services actively follow up families and young people who miss appointments. It also suggests that it may be necessary to find alternative ways to engage the child, young person or family.

Not attending appointments should not lead to a family or young person being discharged from services, but should be considered as an indicator of need and actively followed up.