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Nursing staff believe children and young people with mental illness are being “unforgivably failed”.

RCN analysis shows around 500,000 under-18s visited A&E in a mental health crisis since 2019, with some facing waits as long as three days before being transferred to a mental health unit.

Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) sent to acute trusts in England show waits of 12 hours or more for children in a mental health crisis more than tripled during the same period. 

Our analysis comes just days after the Westminster government announced it will develop a new “once-in-a-generation"  to “drive a fundamental shift towards prevention”. 

On the third day of our annual Congress, Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said the new mental health strategy should address the social determinants of mental health in children, such as poverty, poor and insecure housing, social isolation, as well as unstable employment.

Nicola warned the strategy would “die on the page if social determinants of mental health are not given parity, not just politically, but in pure investment terms too”.

She said: “Half a million children and young people attending A&E in a mental health crisis is evidence of a catastrophic system-wide failure. Nursing staff give their all in the most difficult circumstances, but the fact is that busy and stressful A&Es are wholly unsuitable places for anyone in mental distress, let alone vulnerable children.”

Along with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) we’re calling on the government to expand its roll-out of a network of mental health emergency units to protect children in a mental health crisis. 

Nicola added: “It’s absolutely vital the government rapidly rolls out mental health emergency departments across the country to put a stop to these damaging and potentially traumatising A&E visits. Children and young people deserve appropriate treatment in a safe and dignified environment."