Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Turley Excerpts

Tuesday 20th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Dinenage]

This is a massive priority for the Government, and we are about to start a public information campaign. Sepsis is a killer—one that deserves to be given the utmost importance, and one that we will be seeking to tackle in every way that we can.

[Anna Turley (Redcar) (Lab/Co-op)]

10. What estimate he has made of the number of young people who have not had access to child and adolescent mental health services after a referral in the last 12 months.

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

22. What estimate he has made of the number of young people who have not had access to child and adolescent mental health services after a referral in the last 12 months.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jackie Doyle-Price)]

We estimate that of the approximately 460,000 referrals made to children and young people’s NHS mental health services per year, 200,000 children receive treatment and many are appropriately signposted to other help. Treatment within the NHS is determined by clinical need and it is vital for all to remember that specialist services are not always appropriate for those referred. That said, we are committed to treating 70,000 more children and young people each year by 2020-21.

[Anna Turley]

Around one in 10 children and young people in Redcar and Cleveland has a mental health disorder—a proportion that is higher than for the rest of the north-east and higher than for England. Local services are becoming overwhelmed. Last year, Redcar charity The Link, which provides mental health support for children, experienced an increase in demand of 40%. It has a waiting list of over 140 children and planned waits of 11 weeks, but the charity is still having to make redundancies and staff have had their hours cut due to the funding crisis. Will the Minister commit to increasing and ring-fencing spending for child and adolescent mental health, and will she ensure that the role of third sector charities in delivery of such services is preserved?

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

Having looked at the performance of the hon. Lady’s local trust, I can say that it is rising to the challenge extremely well, but that brings with it challenges. We are increasing the funding available for children and young people’s mental health services. We are relying on local clinical commissioning groups to purchase those services, but I can tell the hon. Lady that NHS England will be keeping this area under scrutiny, to ensure that we are delivering that help to the frontline.