A third more children seeing psychiatrists

THE number of young children seeing psychiatrists has risen by nearly a third within a year, amid an “epidemic of anxiety”, official figures show.

A report revealed a 31 per cent annual rise in children aged nine and under seeking treatment from psychiatrists. Experts said children were struggling to cope with mounting levels of anxiety, bullying and depression, contributed to by social media.

The analysis of figures from NHS Digital by the Children’s Commissioner comes as the Government prepares to publish a green paper on children’s mental health.

Ministers are expected to say therapists should be sent into schools, to deal with a rising tide of anxiety. Every school will be told to have a designated teacher in charge of mental health, with targets to cut NHS waiting times.

The analysis by the Children’s Commissioner shows a total of 328,000 NHS psychiatry outpatient appointments for children in 2016-17 – a rise from 241,000 the previous year.

The steepest rise – of 31 per cent – was among those aged nine and under, with more than 60,000 such appointments in 2016-17. The figures show particular problems among young boys, which made up 43,721 appointments among this age group, up from 31,555 the previous year.

While the number of appointments for girls of this age was lower, with 17,534 cases last year, the rise was sharper, from 11,547.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said the number of children receiving treatment was just a “fraction” of the numbers in need of it.

“These figures show the need for mental health services amongst children in England is growing. I am particularly concerned to see an increase amongst very young children,” she said.

“I want many more children to be supported before they get to the stage of requiring specialist psychiatry,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “We need seismic change to the system to meet the growing demand and unmet need, or more children will fail to receive the support and care they need.”

On Monday the green paper is expected to set out plans to boost provision of mental health services within schools, with thousands of therapists sent into the classroom. Ministers are also expected to propose new waiting times for children’s mental health – capping waits at four weeks, compared with an average wait of 11 weeks now.

However, they are expected to say the targets will be piloted, and are unlikely to be introduced nationally until 2021.

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of charity Youngminds, said: “We know from our research that young people face a huge range of pressures, including stress at school, body image issues, bullying and the pressures of aroundthe-clock social media.”