Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of living on the mental health of young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is acutely aware of the impact of the cost of living on mental health. Information on the support available to help with the cost of living is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/cost-of-living
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government continues to expand and transform mental health services in England, so that more young people get the support they need for their mental health. We will also help thousands of young people into work through the £795 million expansion of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes.
Furthermore, there are around 65 locally funded Early Support Hubs in England. These hubs will support young people aged 11 to 25 years old who are experiencing anxiety or stress, including those who need support around financial circumstances. On 25 October we announced £4.92 million of new funding to deliver and evaluate innovative community-based mental health and wellbeing support for young people at 10 sites across England until the end of 2024/25.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2024 to Question 10927 on Mental Health Services: Children and Young People, what the average waiting time was from referral to assessment for a child referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the latest period for which data is available; and how many children are on a waiting list in each local authority within the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board area.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information regarding the average waiting time from referral to assessment for a child referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, in the latest period for which data is available, as well as how many children are on waiting lists in each local authority within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, is shown in the attached tables.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that parents with children with mental health challenges receive the support required.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We would expect children and young people’s mental health services, in the care of children and young people with mental health challenges, to routinely involve parents, carers, and families as appropriate.
In September 2020, we launched a campaign through the Every Mind Matters website to raise awareness of the guidance and tools available to parents and carers, to help in supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing. Specific content directed at parents is available at the following link:
https://www.mindedforfamilies.org.uk/
Information for parents and carers of children in contact with children and young people’s mental health services is also available at the following link:
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the number of crisis referrals to child and adolescent mental health services on the standard of therapeutic provision for under-18s in south Cumbria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no plans to make such an assessment at national level. We would expect National Health Service providers and commissioners to provide services in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The standard of therapeutic provision for children under 18 years old in South Cumbria is a matter for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of young people who were admitted to a paediatric ward in mental health crisis in each month in 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to support young people with autism in South Cumbria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including services to support autistic young people, in line with relevant clinical guidelines.
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB has several commissioned services in place currently to support autistic young people and their families and has invested over £3.7 million in 2023/24 in such services. This includes an online advice and guidance service, Autism Unlocked, which has been developed for autistic people and their families, including children and young people and their parents and carers. For children on the assessment pathway for autism, the ICB has also commissioned Pathway Navigators who contact families on the assessment pathway to provide ongoing support, signposting, and resources to families.
In addition, a key worker service has been available in Lancashire and South Cumbria since 2021 to support autistic children and young people or those with a learning disability at risk of mental health hospital admission, or those in in-patient settings.
Nationally, we are taking steps to improve autism services. NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services on 5 April 2023. These documents are intended to help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for adults and children who are going through an autism assessment. They also set out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism. To meet the recommendations in this guidance, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB is currently undertaking a review of existing provision to inform the development of an integrated neurodevelopmental pathway, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
In 2023/24, £4.2 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services, pre and post diagnostic support, and the continuation of the ‘Autism in Schools’ programme. Autism in Schools is a national project, which is being implemented locally by NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, which aims to ensure schools offer environments in which autistic students can thrive, supporting good mental health and promoting a sense of belonging.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of young people who presented at an ambulance and emergency department in mental health crisis in each month in 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Simon Fell (Conservative - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals have been accepted by South Cumbria CAMHS in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
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Information relating to children and young people was not collected prior to 2016/17. The following table shows the number of referrals received in Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness local authorities between 2016/17 and 2022/23, the latest period for which data is available:
Financial year | Local authority | Number of referrals received in year for patients aged between zero and 17 years old at time of referral | Number of referrals received in year where patients aged between zero and 17 years old at time of referral and who have received at least one care contact any time after referral |
2016/17 | Cumberland | 250 | 110 |
2017/18 | Cumberland | 975 | 570 |
2018/19 | Cumberland | 4,030 | 2,520 |
2019/20 | Cumberland | 5,555 | 2,810 |
2020/21 | Cumberland | 5,025 | 2,670 |
2021/22 | Cumberland | 6,280 | 3,145 |
2022/23 | Cumberland | 6,140 | 2,795 |
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2016/17 | Westmorland and Furness | 325 | 165 |
2017/18 | Westmorland and Furness | 1,060 | 670 |
2018/19 | Westmorland and Furness | 3,590 | 2,265 |
2019/20 | Westmorland and Furness | 4,665 | 2,305 |
2020/21 | Westmorland and Furness | 3,840 | 1,955 |
2021/22 | Westmorland and Furness | 4,370 | 2,270 |
2022/23 | Westmorland and Furness | 3,645 | 1,870 |
Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Simon Fell (Conservative - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what crisis assessment and intervention services are available to young people under the age of 18 in South Cumbria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) has commissioned crisis and intensive support services for children and young people; this is known as the Responsive And Intensive Support Team (RAIST).
The teams work seven days a week from 8am to 8pm. The team providing support in South Cumbria has registered nurses and social workers who provide a full assessment of need and work with children and young people to develop a safety plan, risk assessment and care plan. Once this has been completed, a two-week pathway of care will be identified. The children and young people will have contact daily with the community mental health practitioners to develop new skills to support the prevention of further crisis.
Since the RAIST has been established with the north of the trust, there has been a reduction in the need for attendance to the emergency departments and admission to the paediatric wards.
For those with severe needs or in crisis, urgent mental health helplines operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, are already available in all areas of the country. They are staffed by trained mental health professionals who can provide assessment and referrals to appropriate services. These crisis lines currently take around 200,000 calls a month and received five million calls between May 2020 and April 2022.
Asked by: Simon Fell (Conservative - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people who were referred to child and adolescent mental health services waited (a) two weeks, (b) one month, (c) three months, (d) six months and (e) longer than six months for an assessment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The following table shows the number of referrals of children and young people aged between zero and 17 years old in England in 2021/22, as well as the time waiting between referral and their second contact for the timescales available:
Number waiting between zero and four weeks | 137,943 |
Percentage waiting between zero and four weeks | 18.80% |
Number of waiting between four and 12 weeks | 62,037 |
Percentage waiting between four and 12 weeks | 8.50% |
Number waiting over 12 weeks | 38,855 |
Percentage waiting over 12 weeks | 5.30% |
Total number | 733,756 |
Source: NHS England
Note: These statistics are classified as experimental and should be used with caution.