Four-year wait hell for mental health patient advice
PATIENTS wait up to four years for NHS counselling on mental health issues – despite rules saying they should be seen in weeks.
A Sunday Mirror probe found the current waiting list for “talking therapies” to help with conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder can be up to 11 times longer than recommended.
Government standards introduced last April require 75 per cent of people referred for psychological therapies to begin treat- ment within six weeks of referral. Guidelines go on to say that 95 per cent of patients should be referred within 18 weeks. Yet our investigation showed one patient has faced a wait of 203 weeks – virtually four years.
Further research found two patients, one in the Avon and Wiltshire area and one in North London, faced three-year waits before finally starting treatment.
Another 11 patients waited for more than two years, 90 for more than a year and 1,743 for more than six months. The true figures A PAEDOPHILE jailed for four years and branded a “significant risk” by a judge is now a volunteer for a prestigious children’s cricket organisation.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has launched an investigation after it emerged Wasim Aslam, 40, goes on tours with kids and has even slept in the same building.
The former history teacher has changed his surname from Majid. And though his role does not involve direct contact with players, horrified parents called for him to be sacked.
Aslam is fixtures secretary for the London School s Cricket Association, where ex- England captains Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting used to play.
He is on the Sex Offenders’ Register and was banned indef initely from working with children after being jailed in 2004 for two counts of indecency and three of indecent assault.
Sentencing him at Northampton Crown Court, Judge Charles Wide QC said: “You embarked on a carefully calculated and planned campaign to abuse two vulnerable 15-year-old boys.
“You were devious and manipulative. You groomed them relentlessly. You created opportunities for abuse.”
One boy received up to 1,300 calls and “dirty” text messages – including 93 texts on Valentine’s Day.
Aslam used to coach at the LSCA and it has now emerged it took him back on in an admin role in 2012.
A source close to the LSCA said: “Parents are horrified and furious. They can’t believe a paedophile has been involved with LSCA all this
Parents are horrified he’s been given this new role and are sick with worry CRICKET SOURCE ON PAEDO’S SCHOOLS LINK
will be even higher as 23 out of the 56 mental health trusts in England failed to respond to our Freedom of Information request.
Geoff Heyes, policy and campaigns manager at mental health charity Mind, said: “Our research has found that while waiting for talking therapies, two-thirds of people became more unwell, four in ten self-harmed and one in six attempted suicide. That’s why it’s so important that everyone has access to the treatment they need, when they need it.” A spokeswoman for NHS England said there were “still some unacceptable cases” but insisted 97.5 per cent of patients waited less than 18 weeks.
The Sunday Mirror urges readers to sign the Time to Change petition which aims to alter how people see and react to mental health problems.
To sign the petition, visit timeto-change.org.uk/pledgewall