Waiting List For Young People's Mental Health Support "Totally Unacceptable" — Councillor

The waiting list for children and young people’s mental health support on the Island is “totally unacceptable”, an Isle of Wight councillor has said.

Speaking to the adult social care, public health and housing needs committee on Thursday evening (July 24), Alliance independent councillor Paul Fuller said the waits were something that made him “very, very angry”.

The Cowes West and Gurnard representative said the situation seemed to be “getting worse”, adding “400 children” were on the current list.

As of May, the average wait to first contact with Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) services was 4.3 weeks against a national target of four weeks, according to an NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight report.

Recent NHS England data from across the country shows that in 2023/24, over 910,000 young people were referred to CAMHS.

Sixty-four per cent did not receive treatment within four weeks and 78,577 waited over a year, with 34,191 waiting more than two years.

Cllr Fuller said:

“It’s not acceptable, it really isn’t – these are young people, these are our future – we don’t have a great track record for young people on the Island.

“We have a lot of young people that leave the Island because they’re fed up with the Island – they don’t feel they’re being looked after – they don’t feel they’re being cared for.

“This is an example we can give as a council of us not stepping up to the mark and supporting our young people – what is our plan for dealing with it?

“Obviously getting money to spend is hard to come by but it should be a priority for us.

“I’m hearing no plans to do anything to address that matter.”

In response, Jo Dare, CEO of the Isle of Wight Youth Trust said:

“I can only talk to you from our specific service. We recognise and we would agree with you that it is unacceptable.

“We have worked with our colleagues across the system to try and introduce some different ways of working to try and reduce that waiting list.

“So, for example, we have increased our offer on small group work. So instead of every child coming through and seeing somebody on a one-to-one basis, can we offer a one-to-three basis or one-to-six basis."

Another method to try to reduce the list was asking whether a young person could be “adequately supported” through another service instead of the youth trust.

“We are absolutely attempting to manage that (mental health support) demand but it’s hard,” she added.