A joint report by the health, care, and education inspectorates in Wales highlights the need for improvements in mental health support for children and young people.
During our work, we heard from 215 children and young people, 200 parents and carers, as well as 252 professionals. When asked, over half of children and young people aged 11 to 16 told us they didn’t know where to turn for support, and many told us, when help was needed, it wasn’t always available.
While some progress has been made, the findings reveal that many children and young people are still struggling to access the help they need, when they need it.
The report highlights the dedication of professionals who are working hard to support children and young people, despite increasing demand for services. Innovative solutions, such as online resources and app-based support, along with welcoming spaces like Crisis Hubs and Youth Cafés, are providing young people with flexible options for seeking help. However, further action is required to ensure that every child and young person in Wales gets the right support, at the right time.
Our work has illustrated the need for organisations to work better together, particularly in addressing the ongoing challenges with accessing specialist mental health support across Wales.
Key findings include:
- Improvement in Early Help and Prevention: Schools, online platforms, and voluntary groups are providing more mental health support than ever to prevent the need for specialist CAMHS input, but some children and young people are still missing out on timely and effective support.
- Gaps in Specialist Care: Despite shorter waiting times for initial CAMHS assessments, follow-up care remains a major challenge for all children and young people. This is particularly the case for those with complex needs, including care experienced and neurodiverse young people, who are often left without timely and effective care.
- Disparity in service access: There are disparities with the eligibility criteria and thresholds for accessing CAMHS, leaving many families and professionals frustrated by the communication and lack of clarity around how these decisions are made. It was also concerning to find that those who speak Welsh were not easily able to converse in their language of choice for mental health care and support.
- Rise in Crisis Support: New initiatives like Sanctuary Spaces and Crisis Hubs are providing alternatives to emergency room care for children and young people in crisis. However, high demand means many are still only accessing support when they reach breaking point.
- What Needs to Change: The report raises concerns about funding, poor communication between services, and a lack of coordinated care. It calls for stronger partnerships between health and local authorities to ensure children and young people get the right care at the right time.
We hope the findings within this report drive forward improvement for children, young people and those close to them so that they have a better experience accessing services like CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), with shorter, clearer waiting times.
The full report and youth friendly summary are available below