Gloucestershire: Hundreds of children waiting for mental health care

The waiting list for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services is anything between 18 months and two years

More than 620 children and teenagers are waiting for mental health care in Gloucestershire, with many waiting for more than two years for help.

Civic chiefs said they are seriously concerned that four to 11-year-olds in particular have been suffering terribly since the coronavirus pandemic.

Councillor Collette Finnegan asked health chiefs what they are doing to improve the situation.

Gloucestershire NHS health bosses say it is starting to make progress.

Ms Finnegan, who is the city council's representative on Gloucestershire County Council's health overview and scrutiny committee, said: "The waiting list for CAMHS [Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services] is anything between 18 months to two years.

"My concern is we have a number of young children who have suffered quite a lot during Covid."

'Making some progress'

Douglas Blair, the chief executive of Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust, told the committee meeting he recognised that the waiting list continues to be very long, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

He told the committee that the total waiting list has reduced since the start of the year but they still have 627 on the list.

"It was higher in January. About 60% of that waiting last has been waiting under a year while 40% is over a year," he said.

"Absolutely we've still got some very long waits that we are tackling but we feel we are starting to make some progress."

Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust said it has faced struggles with an increase of demand

Mr Blair said the trust has been challenged by a "significant" increase in demand and have been expanding the workforce in different ways.

He said that they have put more mental health support in schools, which has used up some of their workforce.

The core child and adolescent mental health service has had a reduction in its total number of people in post during the calendar year, said Mr Blair.

But he explained that they are now seeing around 70% of people in post, with a further 16% of people in a pipeline of recruitment.

Councillors agreed that a task and finish group should be set up to further look into the matter.