Children In Sussex Waiting Too Long For Mental Health Services

An independent review has found mental health services for children and young people would benefit from a "radical redesign".

The review, published this summer, found children and young people are waiting too long for access to emotional health and wellbeing services in Sussex, leaving many feeling “disillusioned”.   

The review’s findings have been endorsed by health and social care authorities across the county.

These include the Clinical Commissioning Groups and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT), as well as Brighton and Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council and West Sussex County Council

In a joint statement to BBC Radio Sussex, a spokesman for these organisations said:

“The NHS and local authorities across Sussex are committed to working together to improve the experience and lives of all local children and young people who are vulnerable and need support.

“Feedback we have received from those using services, their families, carers and staff has highlighted that the current system is not working as well as it should.

"This is something that needs to rapidly change and we commissioned an independently led review of emotional health and wellbeing support for children and young people in Sussex.  

“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic meant the formal publication of the report, Foundations?for Our Future,?was delayed – but we have now set up an oversight board?to take the recommendations forward and identify where improvements can be accelerated.”

The review found that, in general, waiting times for specialist mental health services had increased across Sussex in recent years. 

The review reads:

“Our overarching finding is that for many children and young people, it is not easy to access the range of services.

“Too many children, young people, their families and carers report that their direct experience is one of frustration, delay and helplessness. 

“The pressures on services mean that there can be waits for assessment and receipt of service. This is an issue across all services in the Sussex system.”

The review also highlights a particular problem for children and young people with  neurodevelopmental disorders – such as autism and ADHD – who they say typically face longer waiting times for assessment than others and often experience “a challenging journey through the system”. 

It also highlighted a “worrying lack of information” about the waiting times for autism and ADHD assessments, with some organisations not holding this data.

In response, the review recommends improving the accuracy and availability of health and care data.

Part of the issue, the review says, is due to a lack of knowledge (among both professionals and the wider public) about the range of support services available, with the current system for accessing help described as confusing. 

This had been putting undue pressure on specialist NHS services, the review found.

The review reads:

“Too often, the specialist mental health care services are seen as the only option available when this is far from the case. 

“The effect of this is to exacerbate waiting times, generate numerous inappropriate referrals, and children and young people and their families and carers being left disillusioned and without support. 

“This is unacceptable and unnecessary, and requires a step change in the model currently in place.”

One way of addressing these concerns, the review says, would be to develop an effective single point of access for those looking for help.

This would make it easier for people to find the right service for them and avoid long waiting times. Such a system is already in place in Brighton. 

The review also recommends greater investment in places with the highest need for mental health and wellbeing support, as well as in services which offer support at an earlier stage.

It also calls for further collaboration between the organisations involved and for greater communication with children and young people who use the services.

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The review also drew attention to the comparatively high levels of self-harm among children and young people in Sussex.

All areas of Sussex have higher than average rates of hospital admissions for self-harm than the rest of England and the rest of the South East region, the review said. 

In particular, the rate of admission for self-harm in school aged children in Brighton and Hove had doubled over the last ten years.

However, the review did not consider the service to be unsafe, saying it was not clear whether the current system had contributed to this picture.

The review reads:

“We were concerned that the data we reviewed suggests that children and young people in Sussex may be at higher risk of hospitalisation through self-harm and that rates of death by suicide are higher than those living in other parts of the South East and the rest of England.

“Whether what we have seen and heard has directly contributed to this position is not clear, therefore, we cannot draw any reliable conclusions about the safety of services but we can say that we saw no direct evidence during the review that would demonstrate that specialist or other services are not safe. 

“However, there is a clear need to positively address, monitor and respond to the current trends and the recommendations we have made seek to positively mitigate any continuing upward trend.”