To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of children referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) by (a) Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust received a routine assessment within four weeks of referral; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for CAMHS services.
Answered on
28 September 2021
The data requested is not held centrally.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to invest at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health by 2023/24, providing an additional 345,000 children and young people a year with access to National Health Service-funded mental health support. We are investing an additional £79 million in 2021-22 to address waiting times, allowing around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and accelerate the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have consulted on a new waiting time standard for children and young people presenting to community-based mental health services, to receive care within four weeks from referral. This consultation closed on 1 September 2021 and the outcomes will inform a recommendation to Government on implementation.