It’s widely acknowledged that young people in the UK are increasingly struggling with their mental health, and now new figures show that the number of people aged 18 or under going to A&E with mental health problems has nearly doubled in the past five years.
The Independent reported on the official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care, which revealed that there were 27,487 attendances at A&E by young people in 2017-18 who had a recorded diagnosis of a psychiatric condition.
By contrast, there were 13,800 equivalent A&E attendances among this age group in 2012-14.
The newspaper also highlighted research from charity YoungMinds, which found that 61 per cent of parents felt the care their child received during crisis was “bad” or “unacceptable”.
Emma Thomas, chief executive at the charity, described the increase as “alarming”. She explained that one of the issues is that young people with mental health problems aren’t getting help soon enough, which means things reach a crisis point.
“We often hear from young people who’ve gone to A&E because they don’t know where else to turn,” she stated.
The charity wants there to be more safe places where young people can turn for help within local communities to avoid so many attending A&E.
With the Guardian recently sharing the findings of an Action for Children survey which found that one in three young people have mental health problems, it’s clear there is a need for greater services to help.
If you feel you would benefit from counselling in Chester, get in touch with us today to make an appointment.