A Freedom of Information request from 35 mental health trusts found that of the 186,453 children and young people referred to local mental health services by GPs and other professionals, 39,652 did not receive any help.
The charity is particularly concerned that children who are victims of abuse and neglect are being turned away. It is warning that a failure to address trauma at an early opportunity will create a “time-bomb” of long-term mental health problems.
Among the six mental health services providing more detailed information, one in six children referred with problems associated with abuse or neglect were not offered support. However, the NSPCC points out that it is not clear whether some of these children went on to receive help elsewhere.
It says a key reason for turning away children is because they do not meet the “high clinical threshold” set by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for treatment.
But it warns that while not all abuse victims present themselves with a diagnosable mental health condition, they still need therapeutic support to deal with their trauma.
“There’s been a huge increase in awareness about all forms of abuse in recent years,” said NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless. “If children don’t receive the right kind of help and support following a disclosure, the damage can last a lifetime and include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or suicidal thoughts in adulthood.”
He also pointed to a lack of availability of specialist support for victims, adding that mental health services “do not appear to have kept pace” with the increased understanding and research around abuse.
The government has pledged to invest £1.25bn to improve CAMHS over the next five years. This includes £7m to create more inpatient beds, £150m to address self-harm and eating disorder and £54m to expand the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme for children.
Paul Burstow, who was Liberal Democrat care minister in the coalition government before losing his parliamentary seat in May, told CYP Now last month that the government needed to prioritise support for children with depression, anxiety, conduct disorders as well as those at risk of self-harm and suicide.
Figures releaased by the mental health charity YoungMinds in July found that more than £35m was cut from CAMHS last year.
CYP Now is hosting a national conference on 3 December, Children's Mental Health: Policy and Practice, with speakers from government and academia and a range of practical workshop sessions.
