*  In 2016, it was found that many local NHS areas are spending less than £10 a head on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescent in their communities. 

* The budget for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the UK was cut by a staggering £50 million in 2015. 

* The RCPsych figures show that children and adolescents’ Mental Health is still underfunded when it comes to the share of NHS spending in many areas of the country.

* There are 52 Clinical Commissioning Groups in England that are allocating less than 5% of their total Mental Health Budget to services for Children and Young People. That’s despite the fact that one in every ten children aged 5-16 years has a diagnosable Mental Health Disorder and children under 18 make up a fifth of the population (21.3%).

*The President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Sir Simon Wessely said:

“Our analysis shows that in many areas of the country, the proportion of money that NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups are planning to spend on the Mental Health of our Children and Young People is negligible. We know that more than half of all Adults with Mental Health Problems were diagnosed in Childhood and less than half were treated appropriately at the time. It is a National Scandal that opportunities to Prevent Mental illness from occurring in childhood are being missed because of unacceptably low investment”

Ref: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases2016/underfundedcamhsresearch.aspx

Courtesy of Neville C. Bardoli OBE