Lack of staff leads to fears over mental well-being of children

Published on Monday 22 June 2009 22:52

YOUNG children with mental health problems could be "slipping through the net" due to a lack of access to health visitors, a report revealed yesterday.

The Scottish Parliament's health committee said it had found "disturbing evidence" that under-fives were not being monitored for mental well-being.

Its report states: "The importance of identifying mental health problems in the under-fives was an important theme in this inquiry. Disturbingly, the committee uncovered evidence that this group is neglected."

Experts told MSPs that a reduction in health visitors meant fewer young children were being referred to specialists.

The report said babies often no longer saw a health visitor after eight weeks.

One expert told the committee that there was strong evidence that children with problematic behaviour at two-and-a-half-years of age were highly likely to end up with major problems later in life.

MSPs were told it was possible to predict by the age of three whether children were likely to end up in mental hospitals or in prison.

The report also highlighted problems of long waiting times for access to child mental health services and under-staffing.

Committee convener Christine Grahame MSP said: "We heard evidence that substantial damage has been done by cutting numbers of health visitors, the very people who would have noted signs that merit intervention in the under-fives."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie said: "Mental health is too often a Cinderella service. This cannot continue."