Suicidal children being let down by inadequate mental health services

CHILDREN who are suicidal, selfharming and wasting away from eating disorders are being forced to wait far too long for NHS help, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has warned.

In a report, it said four in 10 community mental health services for children and young people were not safe or too slow to respond to those in need.

Some endured 18-month waits for help, while in one service there were delays of more than 20 months for therapy, inspectors found.

It comes amid revelations that three private children’s units were closed due to safety concerns in recent months. Watcombe Hall in Torquay, run by the Huntercombe Group, was closed indefinitely after the local NHS hospital raised concerns about the number of young patients it was admitting who had come from the unit and were found to be suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.

Two other units in Sheffield and Woking, run by Cygnet Health Care, were shut following inspections earlier this year but have since re-opened.

At Woking, “vindictive” staff were accused of taunting patients, saying “your parents have left you” and “if I broke your arm, it wouldn’t matter”.

The report – part of a Government review – was partly based on 101 CQC reports of specialist child and adolescent mental health services.

In total, 39 per cent of community services were rated as requiring improvement, with two per cent inadequate in speed of response to those in need. Also, 39 per cent needed improvement on safety grounds and three per cent were inadequate.

“Some children are waiting an extremely long time to access the specialist care and support they need,” inspectors warned. “In one service, there was a 493-day wait for cognitive behavioural therapy and a 610-day wait for family systemic therapy.”

It also highlighted concern in children’s rising levels of self-harm and the risk of suicide.

Saffron Cordery, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other healthcare services, said: “While many young people receive excellent care, they often encounter unacceptable delays to getting it, and for some the quality of care falls short of what they need.”

Claire Murdoch, mental health director for NHS England, said NHS funding for young people’s mental health was rising, after years of underinvestment.

“These critical services are beginning to expand and improve, with three quarters of young people now getting urgent eating disorder care within one week,” he said.

“But NHS England has also been explicit about the scale of unmet need.”