Nearly 80% of CAMHS imposed restrictions for children and young people accessing their service a report from the children's commissioner Anne Longfield has found.
Almost half of CAMHS services who responded to an FOI request from the commissioner reported to only offer services for particular diagnosable conditions and three-quarters offered treatment based on the severity of the condition. On average 28% of children referred to CAMHS were not allocated a service, but this does vary across the country.
YoungMinds chief executive Sarah Brennan said that years of underfunding has left the whole system overwhelmed. 'Many local authorities have repeatedly had their budgets slashed on things like social workers, support programmes for parents, educational psychologists and targeted mental health services in schools. This has put a huge burden on services further up the chain, which simply can’t cope with the demand. The government has pledged an extra £1.4 billion towards children’s mental health, but this money must be protected and spent where it’s needed most.'
The report also highlighted lengthy waiting times for mental health treatment with one CAMHS in the West Midlands reporting up to 200 days waiting time.The lowest waiting time recorded was 14 days from a trust in the North West.
Forty-eight of 60 CAMHS trusts responded to the information request and interviews with children and young people on their experiences of accessing CAMHS were conducted. The aim of the review was to identify possible weaknesses in local provision so that more young people have their mental health needs met.