City MP Stephen Morgan has said Labour will provide specialist mental health support in every school as a new report showed that a record 1.4 million children sought NHS help for mental health problems last year.
The number of school-age children being referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) has undergone an “explosion” in the last three years, soaring by 76% since 2019, NHS figures show.
One in four young people aged 17 to 19 have a mental health problem, up from one in ten in 2017.
Mr Morgan said that the next Labour government will bring down waiting times for mental health treatment for everyone who needs it.
Labour plans would see a radical expansion of the mental health workforce, resulting in over a million more people receiving support each year, alongside unprecedented investment in children’s mental health after the disruption of the pandemic.
It will do this by ensuring every community will have an open access mental health hub for children and young people, providing early intervention through drop-in services while bringing down CAMHS waiting lists by recruiting thousands of new staff.
Labour would also provide specialist mental health support in every school with a full-time mental health professional in every secondary school and a part-time professional in every primary school.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“Young people’s mental health matters for their education, as well as for their wellbeing.
“Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen the number of children requiring help increasing without the necessary support in place.
“Labour will put specialist mental health professionals in schools, so every young person has access to early support, resolving problems before they escalate.”
Mr Morgan spoke in Westminster earlier this year calling on the government to urgently invest in children’s wellbeing.
Notes:
Record numbers of children seek mental health help from NHS England
