Rise in number of children needing treatment for severe mental health crisis
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There has been a rise in the number of children across England needing specialist treatment for severe mental health crisis. NHS data shows a 10% rise in emergency, very urgent and urgent referrals for under-18s, to 34,793 between April and October 2024, up from 31,749 in the same period the previous year.
Children requiring emergency care may be suicidal or seriously ill as a result of eating disorders. Those needing an urgent referral also need to be seen quickly and could be at risk of serious harm. The data, analysed by the charity YoungMinds for the PA news agency, shows there were 4,424 new “very urgent referrals” to mental health crisis care teams between April 2024 and October 2024, up 13% from 3,912 in the same period in the previous year.
There were also 24,886 new “urgent referrals” to crisis care teams between April and October, up 13% from 22,045 in the same period the year before. Meanwhile, some 5,483 new “emergency referrals” to crisis care teams were made between April and October, down 5% from 5,792.
Put together, the figures show a 10% rise in all NHS urgent and emergency care referrals across the period. Data for October alone shows that new referrals to liaison psychiatry teams from A&E departments were up 4%, from 2,292 in October 2023 to 2,386 in October 2024.
