Calls to improve mental health services for young
FRESH calls have been made to provide proper mental health support services for children and young people in Northern Ireland.
It follows the publication of the Still Waiting review by the Children’s Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma.
Ms Yiasouma has said an over- haul is needed to respond to the scale of “need and complexity” of young people’s issues.
She said waiting times, drug and alcohol issues and reliance on medication to treat mental health are some of the areas that need to be addressed.
DUP health spokesperson Paula Bradley said access to services for our young people shouldn’t be a constant battle.
She added: “Mental health sta- tistics for Northern Ireland are stark and indiscriminate.
“We must deal with the increasing scale of our children and young people who cannot access proper support services.
“We can’t we have a situation in which people recognise they need help and they cannot access it. This can lead to dire consequences.”
Last June Ms Yiasouma launched a review in which she spoke to children and young people about their experiences of accessing, or trying to access, support for their mental health.
Her review considered support provided by GPs, the education system, the voluntary and community sector, specialist mental health services, accident and emergency, and hospital care.
Ms Yiasouma said she found lengthy waiting times; a high proportion of children not being accepted to specialist services; problems with access to services for those with learning difficulties, or drug and alcohol issues; unacceptable failings in the care of children in mental health crises; and reliance on the use of medication to treat mental illhealth.
Six years ago the Department of Health announced plans to reform the system with the “stepped care model”.
Ms Yiasouma said that while changes are in place, the rate is “too slow” and “not sufficient” to meet growing demands.
The Health and Social Care Board director of children and young people, Marie Roulston, said there was no quick or easy fix but added that improvements had been made over the past decade.