Steve Brine has spoken movingly in Parliament about the ‘despair’ many of his constituents feel at the ongoing issues accessing children’s mental health services in Hampshire.
The Winchester & Chandler’s Ford MP read out a series of personal, anonymised, stories sent to him by constituents after a special request he made ahead of the debate this morning which focused on CAMHS services and young people with special educational needs in particular.
Mr Brine said that, while advances have been made by the current Government, a welcome new SEND plan is imminent and huge sums of money continue to be invested, he still regularly hears from parents angry and desperate for help that is just not there.
The MP said; “None of the personal stories I received ahead of this debate made easy reading, some of them very moving indeed and all in despair at where to turn next. Early diagnosis is often what’s missing and as a result children are falling further down. Consequently they’re helped later meaning the intervention they need is significantly more acute.
“Too often families are waiting for a referral from CAMHS which is not forthcoming and, worse than that, they’re told not to ask how long the wait might be so they’re unable to plan accordingly. Covid has been a disaster for children and young people’s mental health so none of this is getting easier, quite the opposite.”
Mr Brine asked for the new ‘My Planned Care’ website, launched this week to keep patients up-to-date on their wait for surgery as the NHS tackles the Covid backlog, to include information on CAMHS referrals which he said is the least that should happen if we “want to properly realise parity of care between physical and mental health.” And said he planned to meet with the new Integrated Care System covering Hampshire & the IOW in the coming weeks given its’ new role holding services, including CAMHS, accountable across the NHS.
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