Children still wait too long to get mental healthcare, finds review

Abstract

Children and young adults with mental health problems are not receiving the care they need because of long delays and fragmented services, a major review has found.1 “It’s been 20 years since the government commissioned its Every Child Matters initiative, and yet so many young people are still waiting too long for the right help at the right time,” said Bernadka Dubicka, chair of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, commenting on the review’s findings. She welcomed the Care Quality Commission’s review of mental health services for young people in England, which was commissioned by the government, and said that she hoped it would “result in urgent further investment in child mental health.” The review analysed …