There has been a 77% rise in the number of children needing specialist treatment for severe mental health crisis, according to BBC News.
Some 409,347 under-18s were referred to the NHS in England for specialist care for issues such as suicidal thoughts and self harm between April and October 2021.
Head teachers also report a huge rise in less severe mental health issues.
The government plans 400 mental health teams to support schools by 2023.
The NHS Digital referrals data analysed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for the BBC, includes the most serious and urgent cases where the child faces an immediate risk from an eating disorder, self-harm or suicidal thoughts. In the same six month period in 2019, there were 230,591 referrals for under-18s.
There were 349,449 under-18s in touch with NHS child and adolescent psychiatric teams at the end of October 2021, the highest number on record.
I wonder how the teaching unions, headteachers, school governors, local education authorities and the Department for Education, all of whom bear responsibility for the closure of schools and the confinement of children to their homes, feel about these figures?
Worth reading in full.
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