Children's Mental Health In Crisis As Cases Rocket To A Record High

Toll of 400,000 patients triggers alarm over scale of problems since Covid

- Denis Campbell

More than 400,000 children and young people a month are being treated for mental health problems - the highest on record - prompting warnings of an unprecedented crisis in the wellbeing of under-18s.

Experts say Covid has seriously exacerbated problems such as anxiety, depression and self-harm among school-age children and that the "relentless and unsustainable" rise in their need for help could overwhelm stretched NHS services.

The latest NHS figures show "open referrals" troubled children and young people in England undergoing treatment or waiting to start care reached 420,314 in February, the highest number since records began in 2016. The total has risen by 147,853 since February 2020, a 54% increase, and by 80,096 over the last year alone, a jump of 24%. January's tally of 411,132 cases was the first time the figure had topped 400,000.

Mental health charities welcomed the fact that an all-time high number of young people were receiving psychological support. But they fear the figures are the tip of the iceberg of the true number of people who need care, and that many more under-18s in distress are being denied help by arbitrary eligibility criteria.