July 12, 2022, Yahoo News: Parents left ‘bawling’ trying to get mental health support for children – MP https://uk.news.yahoo.com/parents-left-bawling-trying-mental-181045995.html
An MP has described how parents and grandparents have been left “bawling” while waiting for up to four years for initial mental health assessments for children.
Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury, said that every week she is contacted by a constituent who is struggling to get support from their local child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
She said that a wait of two to four years is a “lifetime” for parents who fear their child could be suicidal.
Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, acknowledged that there is a “real challenge” in services for children and young people.
Ms Duffield, who sits on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which is examining rural mental health, said: “I’ve been an MP for five years and we have MP surgeries every week, I have never held a surgery where I don’t have a parent and a grandparent bawling their eyes out because they cannot get an appointment with CAMHS for an initial assessment for two to four years.
“And we’re talking about a condition like ASD (autism spectrum disorder), which the school recognises and is absolutely desperate to get help with….
She added: “There will be mental health support teams in the schools in your area, there will be other advances… we’re seeing 170,000 more children and young people this year than we were last year.
“We’ve grown the CAMHS workforce by 40%.
Ms Duffield added: “That sounds really good but If you are a parent who has waited between two and four years, and you’ve got a 12 or 13- year-old who you think is possibly suicidal, that’s a lifetime.”
Ms Murdoch also told the committee: “I don’t think we can be complacent for one moment, when it comes to mental health.”
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