More Than Half A Million Kids Have Been Referred To Mental Health Services, And This Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg

For the first time NHS Digital included kids in its annual Mental Health Bulletin.
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Children’s mental health statistics have been included in NHS Digital’s annual Mental Health Bulletin for the first time.

The report includes a breakdown of statistics on the number of kids and young people who have been referred to NHS-funded secondary mental health, autism and learning disabilities services in England. 

Out of the 2.6 million people known to have been referred to these three services in 2016/17, 556,790 were under 18. 

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ljubaphoto via Getty Images

However, the report hinted that the actual number of children accessing thee services may be greater as the authors believe “the statistics may undercount people aged under 18”. 

“It is likely that the level of coverage of mental health services for children and young people in the source of these statistics is good, but lower than that for adult mental health or learning disabilities and autism services,” the report stated.

This is because data submissions were not received from around 25% of the expected organisations providing services for children and young people.

The report stated: “We are working closely with providers who have not yet submitted data and expect coverage and data quality to increase for this area in future submissions.”

The report looked at the ages of children most likely to be in contact with these services and compared them by gender.

The results revealed that among children aged 14 to 18, girls were more likely to be in contact with secondary support services than boys.

And 16-to 17-year-old girls were most likely to have been referred to mental health, learning disabilities and autism services, out of all young people.

However within the “under 14” age group, boys were approximately a third more likely to be in contact with mental health, learning disabilities and autism services (as shown in the chart below). 

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NHS Digital

Mental health and autism charities contacted by HuffPost UK stated that it would be difficult to comment on the reasons for this gender shift, as the report did not differentiate between referrals for the three different services - mental health, autism and learning difficulties.

NHS Digital stated they grouped the figures to include mental health, learning disability and autism services because many people who have a learning disability or autism use mental health services and people in learning disabilities and autism services may also have a mental health problem.

This means a single referral may include contact with either type of service.

Commenting on the statistics for young people, Matt Blow, policy manager at YoungMinds told HuffPost UK he was “pleased” to see the annual report has included data on children and mental health for the first time.

“Children and young people’s mental health is at crisis point, and with 50% of all life-long mental health problems first appearing by the age of 14, it’s vital that mental health support is provided as soon as possible to those who need it,” he said. 

“The last in-depth national prevalence study of children’s mental health was carried out in 2004, before the rise of social media. The Government needs to commit to commissioning regular, in-depth prevalence studies to identify risk factors and trends over time, and to ensure that mental health services are commissioned based on an accurate picture of need.” 

Sarah Lambert, head of policy and public affairs at the National Autistic Society, said: “Due to the fact the Government doesn’t regularly record a person’s autism diagnosis, it is hard for the National Autistic Society to comment on these figures, as they may not accurately reflect the autistic population. This is something we campaigned for during our Autism Diagnosis crisis campaign and we’re pleased to say that the Government has now publicly committed to collecting and publishing autism diagnosis and diagnosis waiting times in England from April 2018. 

“However, research suggests that 71% of autistic children develop mental health problems in their childhood, despite autism not being a mental health condition. This can often happen if the support that an autistic child needs is not available, and can impact on a child’s wellbeing and education. In fact, our recent education report that we launched alongside the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism revealed that over 50% of autistic children are not happy at school. 

“Far too many autistic people in England are living with avoidable mental health problems, if we can provide the right support for autistic people from the beginning, we can ensure their lives can be transformed. It is therefore essential that the Government ensures all autistic children are provided with the right mental health support and that a national autism and education strategy is put in place.” 

Before You Go

This Is How Bad It Is To Be A Young Person With Mental Health Issues In 2016
Nearly a quarter of children and young people are being turned away by providers(01 of09)
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Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are turning away nearly a quarter (23%) of all children and young people referred to them for help by parents, GPs, teachers and others.

This was often because their condition was not deemed serious enough or suitable for specialist mental health treatment.
(credit:© Naufal MQ via Getty Images)
You might not be able to access specialist support if your BMI isn’t low enough(02 of09)
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CentreForum noted that in some cases, support for anorexia was denied unless a young person was under a certain BMI threshold. (credit:Donald Iain Smith via Getty Images)
You might not be able to get specialist support if you’re hearing voices(03 of09)
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Criteria in one area suggested those “hearing voices in the context of mild anxiety, low self-esteem or low mood” should see their GP or voluntary sector counselling service and only be referred to CAMHS if they “heard voices that command particular behaviours”. (credit:H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock via Getty Images)
You might not be able to access specialist support if you've only expressed suicidal thoughts once(04 of09)
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CentreForum found one CAMHS would refer people to more generic support unless they had “enduring suicidal ideation” (i.e. they had felt they wanted to commit suicide on more than one occasion). (credit:Jacques LOIC via Getty Images)
You might not be able to get specialist support if your condition hasn't reached a high level of severity(05 of09)
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In some areas, referrals were not accepted unless the young person's condition was “having a major impact on the child’s life such as an inability to attend school or involving a major breakdown in family relationships”. (credit:Arvydas Kniuk?ta via Getty Images)
Maximum waiting times for services have more than doubled in the last two years(06 of09)
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CentreForum's analysis of NHS Benchmarking data found that the average of the maximum waiting times for all providers has more than doubled since 2011/12. (credit:Hero Images via Getty Images)
Maximum and average waiting times vary greatly(07 of09)
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Respondents reported maximum waiting times ranging from four weeks to over two and a half years. The average of these longest waiting times for each service was nearly 10 months for treatment to begin.

Average waiting times for different providers also varied widely, from two weeks in Cheshire to 19 weeks in North Staffordshire. The average waiting time in Gateshead is five times as long as for those in nearby Tyneside. Similarly, waits in London vary widely from two months in Kensington and Chelsea to nearly six months in neighbouring Brent.
(credit:Aaron McCoy via Getty Images)
There were also 'hidden waits' concealed in average waiting times(08 of09)
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CentreForum has uncovered that the median of the maximum waiting times for all providers was 26 weeks (6 months) for a first appointment and nearly ten months (42 weeks) for the start of treatment.

Some providers did not even measure waiting times at all, meaning that some patients could even be waiting longer than this.
(credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Where you live can affect how much is spent on your treatment(09 of09)
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CentreForum’s analysis of regional expenditure on mental health also revealed a North/South divide, with northern regions spending more on services while capacity problems exist in the South. (credit:Sverrir Thorolfsson Iceland via Getty Images)