Six fold increase in NI children waiting for mental health appointment
New figures show that the number of children in Northern Ireland waiting for access to mental health services has increased by more than six times the figure from this time last year.
Despite the fact that official government target stated that no child should have to wait longer than nine weeks for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service appointment, these new statistics show that the number of young patients who have had to wait longer than the allowed maximum increased from 66 in March 2018 to 487 in March of this year.
The number of adults waiting longer than the target time also saw a significant increase, jumping from 648 to over 1,500 in March 2019.
These figures illustrate that, while there has indeed been renewed effort in raising awareness of mental health issues in Northern Ireland, there is still a distinct lack of resources and capacity when it comes to actually providing care and treatment to those who need it.
This has prompted renewed calls from campaigners for Stormont to reconvene in an attempt to establish an actual defined mental health strategy in line with the rest of the UK.
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