New report finds significant gaps in early mental health support for young people across England
by Educate Magazine September 24, 2024 · All News / Education News
A new report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) released today, funded by The Prudence Trust, has found ‘substantial’ geographic variation in the range of early mental health support services for young people – with no clear link between the level of need and the range of support on offer.
Meanwhile, new data shows that hospital admissions for mental health reasons have increased by 20 per cent since 2017 for 11 to 25-year-olds.
EPI found data on the impact of accessing mental health support on young people’s mental health is not being comprehensively collected. Outcomes measures have only recently been included in published national NHSE data, covering only a minority of young people. At both the national and local levels, this appears to be a significant barrier to service improvement.
Meanwhile, new data from NHS England shows that, between 2017 and 2023, the number of young people aged 11 to 25 being admitted to hospital for mental health reasons increased by 20 per cent to about 150,000, whilst admission episodes rose by a third, indicating that more young people are reaching a crisis point and experiencing multiple admission episodes for their mental health.
The Education Policy Institute recommends:
– The rollout of Young Futures Hubs, a key pillar of the new government’s programme to support young people’s mental health, should address gaps in support and work with existing open-access mental health hubs, identified through this and previous research. The government should facilitate knowledge sharing across local systems, commissioners and service providers, particularly in areas of weakness identified by this research, such as using data for improving services, addressing inequalities, involving young people and their families in service improvement efforts, and measuring outcomes following engagement with services
– The government should commission research exploring the availability of non-specialist, including early intervention, services for young people’s mental health, and the extent to which these are meeting young people’s needs – particularly for groups of young people less likely to access specialist healthcare
– Given the notable level of variation in awareness about services across commissioners and providers of these services, NHS England should create clear guidelines supporting good governance and joined up working to address fragmentation between NHS trusts, local authorities and the voluntary sector.
Whitney Crenna-Jennings, associate director for mental health, wellbeing, and inclusion at the EPI, said: “This research reveals a lack of transparency and local coordination in the provision of non-specialist mental health support for young people across England, despite the introduction of integrated care boards and partnerships.
