A report by The Education Policy Institute has found significant gaps in early mental health support for young people across England.
The new research, commissioned by The Prudence Trust and in partnership with Youth Access, used data collected from integrated care systems, local authorities and NHS trusts.
Meanwhile, new data from NHS England shows that hospital admissions for mental health reasons have increased by 20 per cent since 2017 for 11- to 25-year-olds.
The report finds that there is substantial variation across the country in the range of mental health support services delivered outside of NHS settings available to young people. These services include open-access or drop-in mental health services, youth groups, and peer support.
The range of available services does not appear to be related to the number of young people in an area, whether an area is urban or rural, or the level of deprivation.
Alongside the report, EPI has created an interactive tool showing the availability of different non-specialist mental health service types, according to data provided by integrated care boards and local authorities.
Targeted services for groups with barriers to accessing mental healthcare are particularly lacking: according to our data, half of areas did not have a targeted service for LGBTQ+ young people, and two thirds did not have any targeted service for young people from ethnic minority groups or for other under-served groups, including refugee and asylum-seekers or care-experienced young people.
The report recommends that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) should commission research exploring the existence, quality and accessibility of non-specialist services supporting young people’s mental health.
It should also commission further research to investigate how all existing mental health services, including non-specialist and specialist services, delivered in all relevant settings including schools, are meeting demand for young people’s mental health at all levels.
To improve understanding of need and demands for services, additional research should examine incidence patterns in more depth, with a particular focus on specific groups such as girls and young women, ethnic minority groups, and LGBTQ+ youth.
The Office for Health Improvement Disparities (OHID) should work with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to develop guidance laying out what the local early intervention service offer should look like.
The report also says that NHS England should develop guidance on effective governance to address persistent weaknesses in provision, identified by this research and that of others. This guidance should outline best practices for stakeholder collaboration, addressing fragmentation across different commissioners and providers, embedding children and families in governance structures, and harmonising data collection approaches
The report adds that the rollout of Young Futures Hubs, a key pillar of the new government’s youth mental health support programme, should address provision gaps and integrate with existing open access services identified through existing research, including this report.
