The crisis in child mental health is the Tory government’s badge of shame

With poor mental health affecting so many children, it is alarming that, too often, they are slipping through the cracks because of the government’s lack of focus and ambition

As a doctor, I am seeing increasingly more children coming to A&E having self-harmed or with eating disorders (Getty/iStockphoto)

Tonight, children will go to bed cold and hungry, unable to concentrate at school. Many watch their parents worry about paying the bills. To see families going through the same struggles that so many of us experienced in the 1980s pains me.

The cost-of-living crisis should be a thing of the past, but unfortunately, it is all too familiar for so many families growing up in Tory Britain in 2022. Childhood hardships never leave us, and sadly, for too many children, adverse childhood experiences trigger poor mental health.

As a doctor, I am seeing increasingly more children coming to A&E having self-harmed or with eating disorders. Their worried parents wonder why they are fainting repeatedly and are constantly exhausted. The impact this has on entire families is crushing. Time out of school affects a child’s ability to learn and impacts their later life choices. Parents have to take time off work, and their jobs suffer as a result.

It should be a badge of shame for the government that there has been a 77 per cent rise in the number of children needing specialist treatment for severe mental health crises.

In 2020-21, over a third of children were turned away from mental health services, despite a referral from a professional. For those who are not turned away, the waiting times can be agonising. In one mental health trust in the east of England, one child waited 737 days for ADHD treatment and another waited 720 days for autism services.

A number of children had to wait over 430 days for autism services and some children waited over a year for depression and anxiety services. In the northwest, one area reported that a child had waited over 190 days for treatment following an overdose. One trust in the Midlands recorded that a child had waited 217 days for treatment after feeling suicidal, another waited 280 days for PTSD treatment. Shockingly, in southwest England, some children waited almost a year for a mental health assessment.

With poor mental health affecting so many children, it is alarming that, too often, they are slipping through the cracks because of the government’s lack of focus and ambition in improving mental health services.

Parents and patients are losing faith in the system. It is especially painful to see that there is such a postcode lottery in treatment – experiences are truly dependent on where families live, and this can add to the anguish if children have to be sent miles away from home for treatment.

A Labour government will prioritise children’s wellbeing as we recover from the pandemic, by guaranteeing mental health treatment within a month, and providing specialist mental health support in every school, in every community.

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Early intervention is key if we want to give every child the opportunity of a healthy start in life. This is prevention in action – and prevention is key. For children’s physical health, we already have a preventative approach in place: children have regular check-ups for their hearing, eyesight and growth, and vaccinations are the norm. We should do the same for their mental health.

This is why it is essential that resources are available for parents, and that there is a mental health professional in every school and open access hubs in every community, to ensure that children and young people can get the mental health support they need, in an environment that’s safe and secure for them.

The next Labour government will provide this, and today, we are calling on the government to choose between backing Labour’s plans to improve support for every child’s mental health, or double down on their refusal to respond to pleas from parents and teachers to get a proper plan in place to boost mental health and wellbeing post-pandemic.

The way in which children are growing up today, in 2022, will shape the rest of the century to come. Young people deserve to grow up with the security, prosperity and respect that a Labour government would provide.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP is the Labour MP for Tooting and shadow mental health minister