A CHARITY fears thousands of abused or neglected children in Rugby and Coventry are in danger of being ‘sidelined’ by mental health services as a result of NHS changes.
The NSPCC says Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was ‘not properly planning for’ the mental health needs of an estimated 13,588 vulnerable children in the area.
The charity claims children who have been abused or neglected are more likely to struggle with mental health issues including anxiety, depression and PTSD – and could fall through the cracks as the NHS begins merging mental health planning decisions across huge areas of the country.
NSPCC Head of Policy Almudena Lara said: “We know there are fantastic mental health services supporting lots of these children up and down the country.
“But it’s not enough, and a system that is already struggling to properly plan for their mental health needs will render them all but invisible if action isn’t taken now by NHS England.
“Millions more children could be affected unless the NHS ensures that vulnerable young people are explicitly recognised in the new commissioning arrangements.”
A spokeswoman for Coventry and Rugby CCG said it and neighbouring CCGs were committed to safeguarding all children across Coventry and Warwickshire.
She said: “The CCGs work in close partnership with statutory and voluntary sector agencies in the commissioning and delivery of high quality and effective services to achieve the best outcomes for our children and young people.
“The CCGs are working to improve the quality of and access to mental health services for children and adolescents.
“For example, a new ‘Intensive Support Service’ team, comprised of health, social care and education professionals, was created to support young people with autism or a learning disability access assessment and treatment in the community.
“Since the team was put in place, the CCGs have seen an increase in the number of children cared for at home and in the community, resulting in a 58 per cent decrease in the number of children being admitted to mental health hospitals.
“The CCGs have also seen reductions in self-harm, Accident and Emergency attendances, improved school attendance, increased independence, increased levels of functioning across all areas of the Child Outcome Rating Scale and improvements in health and wellbeing.”
An NHS England spokesperson said: “As the NSPCC themselves state, their report does not look at the quality of services and there is absolutely no evidence that children’s mental health is in danger – in fact, more children than ever before are receiving excellent mental health care.
“While there is further to go, the NHS has committed to treating an extra 345,000 children by 2023, is developing new services to treat 6,000 highly vulnerable children and has today written to local health groups reminding them their plans should reflect the needs of the most vulnerable children.”
