Only a third of children in need accessed mental health support in the pandemic

The number of children experiencing mental health problems has risen sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, but fewer have been able to access support because of disruptions to services, says a report by the Children’s Commissioner for England.

Around one in nine children had a probable mental health disorder in 2017, the report says, but this jumped to one in six in 2021 with only around a third (32%) able to access treatment.

While the number of children referred to mental health services by GPs and teachers has been growing in recent years, referral rates fell back in 2020-21 to 497 502 (equivalent to 4% of all children in England), compared with 539 000 (4.5% of children) the previous year.

“It is likely that even though more children have mental health problems, fewer were being referred to services during lockdowns because of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” said children’s commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza.

“Numbers referred into services are likely to increase again in the coming years. The health secretary will be publishing a review later this year to explore how we can tackle this increased level of need and adopt a more preventive approach.”

Lynn Perry, interim co-chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said, “Covid-19 has taken a serious toll on children’s mental health and schools are the first place many of them seek help. Being able to reach this support early at school will reduce the number of children who need specialist help from mental health services. This is why Barnardo’s is calling on the government to speed up the rollout of mental health support teams to help pupils and teachers get the support they need, when they need it.”

Read full story

Source: BMJ, 7 February 2022