Children and young people's mental health services will receive £143 million this year, as well as £30 million on improving services for those with eating disorders, the government has announced today.
There will be guidance on local transformation planning to help make real change to children and young people’s mental health provision.
Children and young people's mental health services will receive £143 million this year, as well as £30 million on improving services for those with eating disorders, the government has announced today.
There will be guidance on local transformation planning to help make real change to children and young people’s mental health provision.
In addition, by 2020 all children and young people with eating disorders should receive treatment within a maximum of four weeks, and one week for urgent cases. Government guidance on waiting times will also be published.
Commenting on the announcement, Professor Dame Sue Bailey, chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (CYPMHC) who describe themselves as “a critical friend to government and commissioners”, said: “This money must be used to transform services and not merely plug gaps.
“This is much needed money, but it needs to be used for prevention and early intervention as well as specialist provision,” she added.
In March, Nick Clegg – deputy prime minister at the time – secured £1.25 billion on children and young people’s mental health provision over five years, and the money released on Friday was the first installment of this.
One-in-10 young people will experience a mental health problem, and nearly three-in-four fears the reaction if they talked about this, according to the latest figures from Time to Change, a campaign to change the attitudes and responses to mental health.
