East Sussex politician grilled by Susanna Reid and Roman Kemp over mental health support for children

Lewes MP Maria Caulfield was put under pressure on Good Morning Britain by Susanna Reid and Roman Kemp over the government's lack of mental health support for children.

The Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women's Health Strategy was questioned by the pair on the popular ITV programme, after latest figures showed it took up to three years for children to access NHS support at hospital trusts across the country.

Reid said to the East Sussex MP: “Three years! As a parent and a journalist, I cant understand how you can tolerate being in a department with a responsibility for mental health and ever have a situation where a young person is waiting three years for mental health support. That is an intolerable amount of time.”

Radio Dj Roman Kemp has urged the government to offer more mental health support to children, after the Conservatives announced it would place support teams in 36 percent of schools.

Kemp said: “To say to someone 36 percent of schools can receive that (help) where’s the hope there? There’s no hope.”

Ms Caufield explained to Good Morning hosts Reid and Ed Balls that there was ‘a tsunami of children’ experiencing mental health issues since the covid-19 pandemic.

The Tory minister claimed the government was recruiting an additional 27,000 mental health workers to tackle the vast waiting list for mental health services.

Ms Caulfield said: “What we have seen over Covid is a tsunami of Children experiencing mental health issues. We are also encouraging people to come forward that perhaps wouldn't have come forward a few years ago because there was taboos about coming forward.

"We know there are waiting lists. We know there is excessive demand in some parts of the country, but not in all. We are trying to get in that support earlier so patients aren't having to be referred to CAMHS [Child and adolescent mental health services], but also that there are other avenues to get help and support.

"In some parts of the country, there are still long waits. That’s why we are recruiting 27,000 additional mental health workers, because it is about building that capacity. So that we can see to the amount of patients that are waiting. Some places we have brought that down quite significantly. In other parts of the country where they are struggling to recruit staff, it has not been so easy.”

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Ms Caulfield's political rivals within East Sussex were not impressed by her comments on TV.

James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Lewes, said: “Maria Caulfield has proved with her comments on children's mental health today that she is not even on top of her ministerial role. Many have been shocked that she admits that there is a three year waiting list for children to receive an assessment for serious mental health issues including autism, ADHD and eating disorders but if anything that is an underestimate locally.

"I've been contacted by parents who say they've been told that the wait is more like four years. It is important to remember that is four years just for the initial assessment before they receive any treatment at all.

"Maria Caulfield wants us to believe that the government is recruiting thousands of new mental health staff but there is absolutely no evidence of this happening. In reality, overstretched NHS staff are just being asked to do more and more with ever decreasing funding. She talks up the self-referral system but that is only suitable for low risk cases so does nothing to help children with severe cases such as those who are dangerously self-harming or a suicide risk."

Emily O’Brien, Green Party councillor and prospective Parliamentary candidate for Lewes, said: “As a parent myself who’s struggled with the complete mess in our local children’s mental health services, I’m all too aware how they have utterly failed to keep up with the current explosion in demand.

"This is true nationally and also true of our local area - despite our local MP being the minister for mental health. Her excruciating interview on Good Morning Britain laid bare the lack of ambition and lack of any proper plan to tackle this failure."