Tag: CAMHS

Six in ten parents think their child has experienced mental ill health

  • New polling also reports significant impacts on family life and siblings
  • Findings also report impact on working life of parents

New polling for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) by The Diffley Partnership has exposed a dramatic concern among parents for their children’s mental wellbeing.

The polling has shown that:

  • 50% of parents think their child has experienced mental ill health, with over one quarter considering it moderate or serious
  • Nearly 60% of those parents reporting a mental health issue consider it to have a fair or great impact on their family life, with over 60% considering it to have such an effect on their childrens’ friendships and social activities
  • Almost half believe their child’s mental health issues have a great or fair impact on the other children in the household
  • More than one-quarter of parents with children whom they believe have a mental health issue have had to take time off work as a result

ECHC exists to transform the lives of babies, children and young people in hospital and healthcare so they can be a child first and a patient second. All its work streams are centred around this objective, putting children and young people at the heart of everything it does, and its activity includes support for child and adolescent mental health services. 

It is currently considering enhancing its services for children and wellbeing with a mental health concern to reflect the increased need illustrated by this polling.

Commenting on the polling, ECHC’s Chief Executive Roslyn Neely said: “The data from this poll is deeply concerning. The truth is that we simply don’t know enough about the impact that life in the 2020s – with a period of social exclusion layered on top of unprecedented social media exposure – is having on young people’s mental health.

“However, what we do know is that we are seeing more problems than ever before, and we believe we can play a part in solving them.

“We are working on a ground-breaking programme which will not only help the young people experiencing mental ill health, but their families too.

“There is no more time to wait. We cannot simply cross our fingers and hope that our young people work out any problems without help. There is too much at stake.”

The polling follows a wellbeing and resilience report compiled by ECHC following in-depth consultations with the parents of children and young people who had experience with CAMHS or mental health issues.

Roslyn Neely added: “These in-depth consultations provided us with a wealth of information which, critically, show us that parents explore a range of different sources of help for their children, including CAMHS, GPs and schools.

“ECHC is now discussing the possibility of creating another route down which parents and young people can go.”

Worst on record: More than 2,000 children have been waiting over a year for mental health treatment

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of children’s services, has called on Scotland’s political parties to make this new session of the Scottish Parliament a “Parliament for Mental Health”.

The call comes as new figures from Public Health Scotland indicate that at the end of March 2021, 2,012 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment from specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) provided by the NHS.

These figures are the worst on record and represent a near tripling from March 2020 (696).They also represent more than 18 per cent of those waiting for specialist treatment.

With already under-resourced and overstretched services facing overwhelming pressure due to increased demand, the SCSC has raised concerns over a potential “lost generation” of vulnerable children and young people whose mental health is being impacted by Covid-19. 

Even prior to the pandemic cases of poor mental health were at unprecedented levels and there are a growing number of vulnerable children who cannot access adequate support.

While 4,089 children and young people were treated over the period January to March 2021 by CAMHS, only 72.5 per cent were seen within the Scottish Government’s waiting time target for the NHS of 18 weeks from referral to treatment (met for at least 90 per cent of patients). Only two out of 14 health boards met this target.

In addition to increased investment in mental health services, the SCSC has called for a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, reducing the need for referral to costly specialist CAMHS. It has also called for greater partnership working between the public, private and third sectors as well as greater awareness of the services on offer, especially those at a community level.

A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “These frightening statistics highlight the challenges ahead and a commitment by MSPs to focus on mental health, increasing investment in support services and intervention strategies, must be a priority for this parliament.

“We have for some time raised concerns over a potential lost generation of vulnerable children and young people, whose mental health is being impacted even further by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a crisis we can overcome, but it will require a similar energy and commitment to that demonstrated for Covid-19 if we are to achieve this and prevent many young people giving up on their futures.”

£40 million to improve children and young people’s mental health services

Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey has written to health boards setting out priority areas of investment from the Scottish Government’s recently announced £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund.

Ms Haughey said: “The lockdown has been difficult for us all, not least young people – affecting their work, social and family lives and job and learning opportunities. That is why we intend to make around £40 million available to take forward dedicated work to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

“This will include capacity building to meet expected increases in demand, specialist neurodevelopmental assessments, and ensuring young people have access to intensive psychiatric inpatient care when they need it.

“An essential part of this investment will be funding for a clinical director for each CAMH service to drive forward change.

“Further to this, we will invest up to £15 million to help clear backlogs in CAMHS and Psychological Therapies waiting lists.

“However we recognise that not all children and young people need specialist services like CAMHS, and so we will also continue to support the expansion of community services at a local level.

“Our £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund is the single largest investment in mental health in the history of devolution, and shows the priority we are placing on mental health. The Fund will be used to deliver our full agenda for mental health and wellbeing, as set out in our Transition and Recovery Plan.

“This will help to improve access to services across Scotland as well as ensuring good mental wellbeing at a population level, a comprehensive distress response, and the right help and support in our communities. We are carefully considering the potential for other investments over the course of 2021-22, and we will make further announcements in due course.”

Joanna Barrett, Associate head of Policy for the Devolved Nations, NSPCC Scotland, said: “The events of the last year have profoundly impacted the lives of children and young people in Scotland, with some suffering traumatic experiences including bereavement and abuse.

“Following the start of the pandemic last year, we saw a rise in referrals from our adult helpline about child abuse and an increase in contacts to Childline about emotional and mental health. Our counsellors heard from children struggling with loneliness and isolation, worries about education, increased parental stress and abusive home environments. Some young people talked about feeling suicidal.

“So this investment by the Scottish Government to address children and young people’s mental health is crucial for the recovery of our younger generation. But it is important we also remember and support our very youngest and most vulnerable members of society, those under five, whose wellbeing is closely attuned to that of their carers, and who cannot voice the harm they have experienced.”

Next phase of the move to the New Sick Kids hospital set for January

NHS Lothian’s inpatient Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are set to move to their new home at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in January 2021. 

The service is expected to join the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and the vast majority of Children’s outpatient services in the middle of the month, following their successful migration to the new building in the summer.

Susan Goldsmith, NHS Lothian Director of Finance and Executive Lead on the Re-provision Project provided an update at a meeting of the Board of NHS Lothian on Wednesday.

Ms Goldsmith said: “We are really excited to be moving CAMHS into its new, purpose built home next month. It has been designed carefully with the input of patients and their families and with their needs in mind. 

“It will provide patients and staff alike with a safe, comfortable and pleasant environment conducive to high quality treatment and care.”

Feedback on the new facility, which has come to life in recent months, has been overwhelmingly positive from staff, patients and families. 

Catering outlets, including a shop, are open for staff and visitors to the building, while the rooftop helipad has passed all test flight and will come into operation once training has been completed. 

The building is due to be handed over to NHS Lothian at the end of January when a period of commissioning will begin to install equipment, train staff and carry out final checks.

Lothian MSP Miles Briggs commented: ““I welcome the long overdue move of CAMHS services to Royal Hospital for Sick Children, based at Little France, in January next year.

“CAMHS waiting times in Lothian are exceptionally long at the moment, with increased demand over recent years and this move is a chance to start reducing waiting times for children and young people who urgently need these services.

“I look forward to visiting the new CAMHS facilities next year when lockdown restriction allow.”

Call for Scottish ‘Budget for Mental Health’ for children and young people

  • Figures show only 0.56 per cent of NHS expenditure on CAMHS and less than 7 per cent of the mental health budget
  • Varying figures across Scotland, with 0.75 per cent of NHS expenditure on CAMHS in Tayside and 0.08 per cent in NHS Orkney
  • Call comes as Children’s Mental Health Week takes place

A coalition of leading independent and third sector children and young people’s service providers has called on the Scottish Government to deliver a ‘Budget for Mental Health’ on Thursday (6th February).

The call from campaign group, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), comes in week which also marks Children’s Mental Health Week (3rd-9th February).  It has urged greatly increased investment in mental health services for children and young people to tackle a current mental health ‘crisis’.

In a letter to Finance Cabinet Secretary, Derek Mackay, it has called for a significant proportion of the Barnett consequentials coming to the Scottish Government from the additional £34 billion a year the UK Government has pledged to go to the NHS to be spent on mental health.

The letter highlights figures indicating that a mere 0.56 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on specialist child and adolescent mental health Sservices (CAMHS), amounting to £67.248 million. In addition to this, only 6.61 per cent of the overall mental health budget is spent on CAMHS, a drop from 6.68 per cent on the previous year.

This is equivalent to just over 50p in every £100 of the NHS budget being spent on CAMHS.

These figures vary considerably across Scotland, ranging from 0.75 per cent of expenditure in NHS Shetland on CAMHS, 7.44 per cent of total mental health expenditure, to 0.08 per cent in NHS Highland, 2.92 per cent of total mental health expenditure.

These very low figures are despite the fact that mental health services are literally ‘creaking at the seams’ due to greatly increasing demand. Research indicates that 10 per cent of children and young people (aged five to 16) has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem (around three in every classroom), with 50 per cent of mental health problems established by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 24.

The SCSC has also called for a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention for those with mental health problems. This includes on-demand counselling services in GP surgeries and greater community support generally, reducing the need for referral to under-pressure specialist CAMHS.

Latest figures on waiting times to access CAMHS, covering the period July to September 2019,  indicate that of the 3,901 children and young people who started their treatment, only 64.5 per cent had been treated within an 18-week waiting time period. This is short of the 90 per cent target set by the Scottish Government.

In addition, 204 children and young people have been waiting for over a year to be seen.

A spokesperson for the SCSC said: “As we mark Children’s Mental Health Week we are urging the Scottish Government to make the forthcoming Budget a ‘Budget for Mental Health’ for our children and young people.

“With three children in every classroom having a clinically diagnosable mental health problem, no longer can mental health be viewed as a ‘Cinderella’ service and we must put money behind the rhetoric to address the current crisis.

“There must be a radical transformation of our mental health services, with a focus on preventing such problems arising in the first place and intervening early, especially when we know that half of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14.

“With mental health and the issues associated with it representing one of the greatest public health challenges of our time, we must ensure that children and young people are able to get the care and support they need, when they need it. This includes investing in greater community support and support at school, reducing the need for referral to specialist CAMHS.”

Young people dealing with mental health issues are to be guaranteed access to high quality support wherever they live, Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey  announced yesterday.

Health boards will receive new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) guidance which outlines the level of provision that children, young people and their families can expect to receive when they are referred for help within the NHS.

The first national CAMHS Service Specification, which has been developed in partnership with young people and their families, includes a number of aims such as reducing both the waiting time for a first assessment appointment and the waiting time for any subsequent treatment.

Ms Haughey said: “We are determined to ensure that any young person who is identified as needing support with mental health issues can get services that are appropriate to their needs.

“An important step towards ensuring consistent high standards is the development of agreed referral criteria and definitions and this Service Specification, developed in partnership with young people and their families, will help to ensure everyone gets the right treatment, at the right time and in the right place.

“All health boards are being provided with this specification and will be expected to set out plans on how they will implement it, with a formal review of how it is working across Scotland to take place after six months.

“In 2018/19 our investment in mental health reached £1.1 billion and over the life of this Parliament will exceed £5 billion – investment which will help deliver the best support available for children and young people dealing with mental health issues.”

Development of the service specification has been overseen by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board, which is jointly chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA.

COSLA Children and Young People spokesperson, Cllr Stephen McCabe said: “We are grateful to the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board for their work on the specification.

“This is part of a whole system approach and COSLA will continue working with partners to drive a national conversation on prevention and early support for children, young people and their families.”

Waiting time figures highlight need for urgent action to tackle child mental health crisis

  • The NHS in Scotland failed to meet a maximum 18-week waiting time target for children and young people to receive treatment from mental health services
  • More than 3 in 10 are waiting more than 18-weeks for treatment.
  • 12 out of 14 health boards failed to meet the 18-week waiting time target:
    • NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, NHS Borders, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Orkney, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley, NHS Shetland and NHS Forth Valley
  • 151 children and young people waited more than a year prior to being seen for treatment, three times that for the same quarter of last year.
  • More than one in five referrals for treatment are rejected.
  • Figures show only 0.53 per cent of NHS expenditure is spent on CAMHS, less than 7 per cent of the mental health budget.
  • Coalition calls for fundamental rethink and renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, including embedding mental health within education.

Continue reading Waiting time figures highlight need for urgent action to tackle child mental health crisis

233 young people waiting over a year for CAMHS in 2018

A total of 233 children and young people have had to wait over a year for mental health services in Lothian in 2018. NHS Lothian Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times are the longest in Scotland. Continue reading 233 young people waiting over a year for CAMHS in 2018