The NHS is key to this election, with big promises from all sides and mental health singled out for attention. The reality is that deep cuts have decimated services for the most vulnerable young people – as one frontline clinician reveals
Duty calls: two hospital admissions for deliberate self-harm (DSH) during the weekend mean that the on-call clinician must cancel all regular Monday morning appointments in the busy inner-city Camhs (child and adolescent mental health services) clinic where I work. As well as being available to answer urgent calls, it is our responsibility – when on duty – to decide if children admitted to the local A&E after deliberately harming themselves can be discharged or need an inpatient admission.
We have a staff bank of 25 for the clinic, many part-time, from a range of disciplines – psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, family therapy and nursing – to provide specialist mental health services for children and support to parents and carers. Like similar services across the country, we find ourselves facing a dramatic increase in demand for our services, and a steep rise in the complexity and severity of our cases.
Related: Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children
A child might be subject to traumatic events and find their local service will not see them
Related: Children are suffering as mental health services fail to cope, say parents and teachers
Whatever the promises made in the heat of a general election campaign, adequately funded services feel a remote prospect
Related: Teachers left to pick up pieces from cuts to youth mental health servicess | Mary O'Hara
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