Professor Sue Bailey, chair of the faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said many youth justice professionals were reluctant to refer young offenders with mental health problems to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) teams, because they assumed the waiting list was so long they wouldn't be seen in a tenable length of time. But this wasn't the case in "significant numbers", she said.
Others thought there was no point in referring children on short sentences, since they'd barely finish half of their intervention before having to move elsewhere. Professionals were also failing to follow up on cases where young people had refused intervention.
Bailey said young offenders' physical health needs often went unmet when they left secure facilities, because some GPs refused to register them.
A spokeswoman for the Youth Justice Board said that the provision of mental health services for young people did vary significantly from area to area, but was surprised that youth justice professionals were mistaking the lengths of CAMHS waiting lists.
She said: "Youth offending teams ought to have close links with CAMHS teams because they need to use their services on a regular basis, and so they should be aware of what provision is available."
But Marsha Jordan, mental health practitioner on Gateshead youth offending team, said that this awareness level varied from area to area, and depended on whether their position was commissioned by CAMHS or their local health authority.
"Some mental health practitioners in YOTs are employed by CAMHS teams. Where this employment pattern happens, it can be really effective because they know each other's agenda and criteria. So in terms of targets of seeing young people it will be more successful."
She said, in her experience, around 40 per cent of staff on youth offending teams who were appointed to identify the mental health needs of young people and refer them could be health trained, but not mental health trained.
This too could be a factor.
However, she felt the Youth Justice Board was prioritising mental health needs and that the problem was being addressed through training.
