Sixty per cent of children and young people referred for specialist care by their GP are not receiving treatment, figures reveal. Data from 32 NHS Trusts in England showed about 60% of under-18s who are referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) by their GP are not receiving treatment, according to figures obtained by Spurgeons children’s charity. Dr Bernadka Dubicka, the chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ child and adolescent faculty, called on NHS England to stand by its pledge to invest an additional £1bn in frontline mental health services and treat 1 million more people by 2021. “Children and young people’s mental health services will be plunged into further crisis by an inadequate Tory budget which ignored mental health entirely,” she said. “The lack of access to services for two-thirds of children is a damning reminder of the Tories’ failure to match their warm words about mental health with action.”

Source: The Guardian November 27, 2017 06:00 UTC