The number of children needing treatment for serious mental health problems, including eating disorders, has risen sharply in a year, figures show.
The number of under-18s who were referred for mental health treatment on the NHS rose by 39 per cent to 1,169,515 in 2021-22.
The England-wide data, which was analysed by the PA news agency, includes children who are suicidal, self-harming, suffering serious depression or anxiety, and those with eating disorders. In 2020-21 the figure was 839,570 and in 2019-20, it was 850,741.
Dr Elaine Lockhart, chairwoman of the child and adolescent psychiatry faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said children and young people’s mental health had been getting worse before the pandemic, with increasing social inequality, austerity and online harm playing a role.
“When the lockdowns and pandemic struck, that really had such a negative effect on a lot of children,” she added. “Those who had been doing well became vulnerable and those [who] were vulnerable became unwell. And part of that was about children themselves feeling very untethered from the day-to-day life that supports them, but also seeing their parents struggle, and then that collective heightened sense of anxiety and loss of control we all had really affected children.”
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Lockhart said specialist services were responding to young people with psychosis, suicidal thoughts and severe anxiety disorder, while targets for seeing children with eating disorders urgently were sliding completely and more staff were needed.
“I think what’s frustrating for us is if we could see them more quickly and intervene, then the difficulties might not become as severe as they do because they’ve had to wait,” she added.
Separate NHS Digital data shows rising hospital admissions for eating disorders among children and young people. Among under-18s, there were 7,719 admissions in 2021-22, up from 6,079 the previous year and 4,232 in 2019-20 — an 82 per cent rise in two years. From April to October last year, the most recent data available, there were 3,456 admissions, up 38 per cent from 2,508 for the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.
For people of all ages, including adults, the data suggests that 2022-23 could lead to the highest number of hospital admissions for eating disorders. From last April to October there were 15,083 admissions, compared with 28,436 for the whole of 2021-22.
An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS has worked tirelessly to be able to treat almost three quarters more children and young people for eating disorders than two years ago.
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“We acknowledge that more is still needed, which is why we are also rolling out mental health support teams as fast as we can and have doubled the number of young people we have seen, as well as establishing 24/7 crisis lines.”
