Some children in Northamptonshire waiting more than a year for mental health help, health boss says

Some children in Northamptonshire who need specialist help after suffering trauma are having to wait for more than a year for treatment.

A senior manager at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) conceded some waits are “too long” at a meeting of members of NHFT. An experienced social workers also told the meeting that this is a “national problem”.

Children with “moderate to severe” mental health problems are sometimes having to wait “around eight to nine months” to see a specialist, Sharon Robson, NHFT’s assistant director for children’s services, said.

She said the impact of Covid has led to an “exponential” increase of referrals and that some children who have “moderate to severe” problems are “more acutely unwell” than before.

“For very specific trauma work we have waits that are in excess of a year. Any wait is too long. Most of the referrals that are coming into our core CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health services), which is the moderate to severe end, are for low mood and anxiety,” she told a meeting of members of NHFT.

“This is low mood that prohibits children and young people from leading normal lives. The waiting times for that at the moment are around eight to nine months. Again, [that’s] far too long and we do acknowledge that.”

She said children who are known to the services are clinically reviewed every 12 weeks. If specialists feel they will benefit from being referred to other services, they are, she said.

David N Jones, a public governor for NHFT for Northampton, said the trust “has to be worried about long waits” for children across the county.

“Clearly lots of Northamptonshire children are struggling at home in all sorts of ways,” he said.

“I don’t know where the solution is so I’m quite worried about it and want to be encouraging staff in NHFT because this is a national picture.

"I have been in social work for over 40 years and the discussion about CAMHS has been constantly there. There has been constant underinvestment.”