Ulster Unionist mental health spokesperson, Robbie Butler MLA, has warned that delays in accessing treatment and support could be damaging the mental health of local young people.
The official target is that no child should have to wait longer than 9 weeks to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), but new figures have confirmed the number of patients waiting longer that the maximum time increased from 66 at the end of March 2018 to 487 at the end of March 2019.
The Lagan Valley MLA has also learned that the number of adults waiting longer than the 9 week target to access mental health services more than doubled from 648 at the end of March 2018 to 1,529 at the end of March 2019.
Robbie Butler said:
“Whilst awareness of the importance of good mental health has grown significantly in recent years, along with ever improving forms of support, unfortunately these new figures suggest that there is a major shortage of capacity within the local system. Of the 487 young people waiting longer than the maximum allowed period of 9 weeks, 294 were routine referrals for those who are experiencing mild/moderate mental health difficulties, and a further 179 were for those requiring support for more complex needs.
“Approximately 1 in 5 adults here have a mental health problem at any one time, but what is sometimes overlooked is the fact that so too do around 45,000 children and young people.
“CAMHS has a crucial role in promoting emotional well-being and as well as delivering treatment and preventative mental health services to children and young people aged 0 – 18 years of age who experience significant mental health difficulties.
“Research has shown that 50% of mental health problems emerge by age 14 and that childhood adversities such as dysfunction in families and poor parental mental health are strongly linked to the onset of mental health problems in childhood and subsequent continuation into adulthood. Yet through early intervention it is possible to reverse this and therefore prevent mental health problems being pervasive in families and becoming transgenerational.
“That’s why it is so important to ensure that children and young people with mental health needs are seen by the right person at the right time and in the right place.
“I am seriously concerned now though that the current delays in both child and adult mental health assessments and treatments will be causing detrimental and lasting harm to some of the people unfortunately getting caught up in them.
“It is a scandal that as pressures are evidently building across our mental health services, the political impasse at Stormont is rumbling on. Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rates throughout the UK, we also have by far the highest rates of poor mental health and yet we’re the only UK region without a current mental health strategy. The ‘Protect Life 2’ suicide strategy has been left waiting on a shelf simply because we don’t have a local Minister in place to push in through.
“This latest revelation that the numbers of people waiting for mental health support or intervention are spiralling should be more than enough to force the two main political parties to get their act together and agree the immediate restoration of the Assembly.”