Children and young people will benefit from a cash injection to
mental health services which includes addressing the increasing
demand for the treatment of eating disorders.
An extra £40m has been allocated to address the covid impact on
children and young people’s mental health and enhance services
across the country.
One way the additional money will be spent is to support ensuring
the right type of beds are in the right places, or that
alternatives to admission are in place, supporting parts of the
country that have more challenges in their range of bed capacity.
Across the country £10m capital funding is being used to provide
extra beds at units which provide care for young people with the
most complex needs, including eating disorders, as well as £1.5m
to ensure there are additional facilities for children under 13.
This funding is on top of £79m made available by government to
support children and young people’s mental health in the
community, including via increased access to crisis and eating
disorder services, and new mental health support teams being
rolled out - by April 2023, there will be around 400 teams
covering 35% of the country, exceeding our previous 20-25%
ambition.
Claire Murdoch, national mental health director,
said: “This pandemic has hit our young people hard and
while services have remained open throughout, we have seen an
increase in the numbers of children and young people seeking help
from the NHS for their mental health.
“This additional funding is in recognition of the rising demand
and our continued commitment to provide the best care as early as
possible and to do as much to prevent children and young people
needing hospital treatment as we do to ensure that when they are
in hospital they receive the right treatment before being
supported back at home.”
£30m revenue and £10m capital will be used across a number of
schemes including supporting services to prevent the need for
admission and to train staff working with children with mental
health issues on children’s wards to ensure they have the skills
to manage mental health conditions even if they are not
specialist mental health staff.
To support staff in providing care for patients with eating
disorders the investment will include specialist feeding training
which will be rolled out so where appropriate this care can be
given to children and young people in a standard hospital
setting. But the investment will also be used to develop day
services and alternatives to admissions that will include support
for patients with eating disorders.
This investment recognises the complexity of mental health in
children and young people who may require hospital treatment for
another matter while also presenting with a mental health
condition.
Money will also be spent on establishing an intensive community
support role to prevent children being admitted to hospitals and
facilitating earlier discharge as in many cases the best place
for children and young people to receive care is in their own
home.
This will enable the training of 96 associate practitioner
psychologists who will be trained to practice under close
supervision with those who have complex and severe mental health
conditions, to provide care both in hospital and within the home.
Minister for Mental Health, , said: "Children and young people have been
uniquely challenged by the events of the past year and a half. We
remain absolutely committed to supporting them through this
pandemic and beyond, ensuring they have access to the tools and
support they need to stay mentally well.
"While children can be very resilient, crises can have a huge
impact on their mental health and we must continue to ensure they
can access help if they need it. This funding boost builds on the
£79 million previously announced as part of our Mental Health
Recovery Action Plan, to expand children's mental health services
and open up eating disorder services to an extra 2,000 young
people."
This funding is in addition to the significant funding already
committed to mental health services as part of the NHS Long Term
Plan which will see a further 345,000 children and young people
access mental health services by 2024.
- Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System
(BLMK ICS) will fund 12 General Adolescent Unit and six
Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit beds
- Intensive outreach services will be boosted in the East
Midlands
- 12 additional beds will be funded in the South West
- 22 additional beds will be supported in West Yorkshire
- Three additional beds will be funded at the Alder Hey
Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Investment will be made in the day service and alternative
treatments provided in Kent and Sussex.
