Soaring number of children suffer from anxiety

UNIVERSITY Hospitals of Leicester treated children with anxiety 300 times last year - with numbers soaring in recent years.

The hospital trust treated people aged between 10 and 19 around 295 times in 2017/18, as well as treating under 10s around 10 times,

exclusive figures from NHS Digital reveal.

That was a rise from 260 treatments recorded the year before for those aged 10 to 19.

As well as this, the number of times young people aged between 10 and 19 have been treated for anxiety at the trust has soared sevenfold

from around 45 incidences in 2010/11.

Across England, under 10s were treated for anxiety 1,754 times in 2017/18, up from 1,263 times in 2016/17.

The number of treatments for this age group has nearly tripled from 631 in 2010/11.

For those aged 10 to 19, the increase has been even more dramatic.

This age group were treated for anxiety 28,204 times in 2017/18, a rise of more than a quarter from 22,080 in 2016/17.

However, the most recent figures are almost seven times higher than the numbers recorded in 2010/11, when those aged 10 to 19 were treated 4,239 times.

Tom Madders, Director of Campaigns at YoungMinds, said: “These worrying figures reflect the rapidly growing demand for children’s

mental health services, and we know that many more fami- lies can’t get the support they need.

“The new NHS long term plan must lead to increased funding for young people’s mental health, and much better support when problems first

emerge. Schools also need more resources and recognition for the work they do on wellbeing and mental health.”

The figures cover finished consultant episodes where the patient has a primary or secondary diagnosis of anxiety.

The diagnoses include anxiety disorders, phobic anxiety disorders,

separation anxiety and social anxiety.

The same child may be treated more than once in the same year.

NHS Digital has rounded numbers and suppressed small numbers to reduce the risk of individuals being identified.