Children urged to exaggerate to get mental help

GPS are telling children with mental health problems to exaggerate their symptoms to receive NHS treatment, a report by watchdogs warns.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said too many young people were unable to get help until they hit “crisis point”, amid widespread rationing of treatment.

The cases include a girl with an eating disorder whose condition deteriorated after she was denied help on the grounds she “wasn’t thin enough”.

The review of mental health services for children and young people said restrictions on treatment meant vulnerable patients were being told the best way to get help was to exaggerate.

“Some young people had been advised by their GPS to ‘pretend things are worse than they are’, to increase their chances of being accepted into specialist Child and Adolescent Health Services,” the report warns.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “Thousands of children are not receiving access to the mental health services they need. Too often referrals are only made when a child is at crisis point, and, sadly, some children have even told me that they felt they had to attempt to take their own life in order to access treatment.”

The report said health services, education and local government services were not working together effectively to protect children.

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of charity Youngminds, said: “We regularly hear from young people who have started to self-harm or become suicidal while waiting for appropriate help, and who have ended up going to A & E because they haven’t been able to find support elsewhere. This simply shouldn’t be happening in 21st-century Britain.”

The CQC, which examined the care in 10 areas of England, found that some children are “bounced” between different parts of the system, due to staffing shortages and confusing referral routes.

Claire Murdoch, national mental health director for NHS England, said: “The CQC rightly acknowledge that the NHS’S five-year plan for mental health … sets out a clear route map for improvement and investment, and progress is under way.”