Children's mental health services have collapsed

[noblegiraffe]

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/18/nhs-is-failing-half-of-young-people-with-mental-health-issues

"Data published by NHS Digital shows that in 2019-20 – the most recent figures available – 23% of the 547,590 under-18s referred to NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services had no contact from health workers to deliver care, nor meetings between health workers to support their care. Another 26% – 144,384 people – had their referrals closed without receiving treatment."

The shocking thing is that this involves data from before the pandemic. We know that the situation is even worse now, with children who have been badly affected by lockdown joining the queue, and children who have been unable to access their regular support now reaching crisis point.

I recently got a letter from Nadine Dorries, the Minister for suicide prevention and mental health and she said that more money was being put into children's mental health services and that a lot of responsibility is being passed to schools to have a senior mental health lead (as if we don't have enough on our plate).

They've also appointed a Youth Mental Health Ambassador.

Nadine appears to have deleted her twitter account today, so I'm guessing she was getting some unwelcome feedback on a recent claim that CAMHS was "well-resourced and robust."

It's absolutely shocking that children have to have actively attempted suicide to access support and even then simply be added to a waiting list.

I haven't got the energy to be angry.

And to be honest, we are very lucky compared with many. We have money to go private (once we guessed what was needed and where to get help, not at all obvious), and because she's adopted we eventually got some help through post adoption support too.

There must be 100s of kids similar to DD who aren't getting any help because their parents can't pay for it themselves.

Ds has been on the Camhs caseload since September last year and that was his second referral. The first was rejected, because he is autistic.

He is yet to receive any kind of therapy and his mental health is worsening. Initially he was going to be seen once a fortnight. The last visits were 12 weeks apart. He is 18 next year and I can see him being discharged with no improvement at all. Camhs have said he probably won't meet the threshold for adult mental health services.

Ds says he has no future and feels hopeless. He does though, have an EHCP, so we hopefully have the option of specialist placements that can also support his SEMH difficulties.

It's not even just the NHS. Because so many people are desperate and are getting nowhere with CAMHS they find the money to go private and now those services are overwhelmed. Well they were overwhelmed 2 years ago. I don't know what it's like now.

We had a 2 month wait for private psychiatrist back in Sept.

That wasn't bad Teen. I did find a psychiatrist and we were lucky to get an appointment. Medication was prescribed along with counselling. The counselling was the problem.

the private services are totally overwhelmed also

i think parents need help to manage their children's mental health

My child had 3 separate referrals and waited nearly 3 years to be seen.

They are constantly having their medication increased without any counselling or assessment.

They've made two suicide attempts since being under Camhs but nothing changes.

I work in a CAMHS team (admittedly working with young offenders rather than regular CAMHS). I believe that the work we do is good (and our inspection report and feedback would support this) but less than half our nursing roles are filled, and we aren't funded for as many roles as we need.

CAMHS services are in absolute crisis. MH services are massively underfunded and there aren't enough nurses or psychiatrists to do what is needed.

Native Dorries can also fuck off, the miserable spirited nurse-hating cow that she is.

It has been beyond crisis point for over two decades, to my knowledge.

It is shocking, and the figures don't reflect the people that need services and don't get it, and no-one bothers to even refer to CAMHS in our area anymore.

And in the meantime, there are shedloads of excellent psychology graduates desperate to move into clinical psychology, who are volunteering and often giving up after a few years because there are so few routes to qualification and massively restricted places.

Absolutely do you expect parents to manage their children's physio, allergies or hearing problems?

Apologies Ab I thought you meant we had to do it all.

My child won't talk to me though. So I need someone else she will engage with. I've hit a dead end after all these years.

yes fair point, my dd got help through the school luckily for her with a counsellor, but times are so hard now

when the service is in such dire straits it is not really a surprise they cannot attract psychiatrists

I feel so much for the families. CAMHS was the worst role I've ever done, it very nearly broke me. All my colleagues were the same. Out of a team of 23 NOBODY is still there after 2.5 years. Not a single person, they all moved on.

The job is not doable, the service doesn't function, and our children are suffering for it.

Sorry

It's been like that for years. DD referred for a number of issues in 2015, saw a locum who focussed one one issues, ignored the others and discharged her. GP then referred her to paeds in August 2017 and we're still no further forward - we have our first appointment with a permanent consultant in two weeks and, I am fairly sure, will start all over again.

Cannot say the damage it's done her (and me). And yet the importance of early intervention is consistently highlighted. There is a very good private practice locally specialising in children's mental health. Even with their prices, their waiting list was closed for a while earlier this month as demand was so high.

Yes, it's under resourced and pressured, but if there's no prep for appointments, there's simply no point in having them.

jen I don't think people blame the practitioners at all. I think they know it's a thankless task. There needs to be a massive reevaluation of the service.