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| Cuts to UK mental health services are destroying young lives and families | Cuts to UK mental health services are destroying young lives and families |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| I went to the funeral of a friend who took her own life last week. She was a beautiful, horse-loving, vivacious mother of two wonderful daughters. One of them, just 15, stood up in the church to speak. She spoke of the mum she loved, the mum she would desperately miss. And then she said this: “We know there was a darker side to her. And nobody has to become wholly dark for them to be tipped over the edge. | I went to the funeral of a friend who took her own life last week. She was a beautiful, horse-loving, vivacious mother of two wonderful daughters. One of them, just 15, stood up in the church to speak. She spoke of the mum she loved, the mum she would desperately miss. And then she said this: “We know there was a darker side to her. And nobody has to become wholly dark for them to be tipped over the edge. |
| Related: A&E staff attitudes to patients in mental health crisis ‘often shocking’ | Related: A&E staff attitudes to patients in mental health crisis ‘often shocking’ |
| “Of course we can never be sure where mum’s personality stopped and mental illness began, yet I am certain that the side which was truly dreadful was not her at all but in fact her demons.” | “Of course we can never be sure where mum’s personality stopped and mental illness began, yet I am certain that the side which was truly dreadful was not her at all but in fact her demons.” |
| It was heartbreaking, yet also shed a light on how mental illness continues to claim lives and destroy families. | It was heartbreaking, yet also shed a light on how mental illness continues to claim lives and destroy families. |
| In the UK, we have some of the best emergency medicine in the world for physical health. But when it comes to emergency mental health we can make no such boast. In fact the system is in crisis. | In the UK, we have some of the best emergency medicine in the world for physical health. But when it comes to emergency mental health we can make no such boast. In fact the system is in crisis. |
| Last year nearly two million people in this country sought help for mental health problems. But many didn’t get the what they needed. In June a report by the Care Quality Commission revealed thousands of people in urgent need of care received “inadequate support”. | Last year nearly two million people in this country sought help for mental health problems. But many didn’t get the what they needed. In June a report by the Care Quality Commission revealed thousands of people in urgent need of care received “inadequate support”. |
| My own family experience in the last couple of years has persuaded me that those with mental illness, particularly the young, get a raw deal. Early intervention can make a vast difference and yet there is no easy way to get help. It is haphazard. You may get help or you may not. It may happen quickly or it may not. Teenagers may be in a children’s unit or thrown into an adult one. Worse still, you may be sent hundreds of miles from home, where your parents struggle to be with you. It is absurd – no wonder the outcomes are so poor. | My own family experience in the last couple of years has persuaded me that those with mental illness, particularly the young, get a raw deal. Early intervention can make a vast difference and yet there is no easy way to get help. It is haphazard. You may get help or you may not. It may happen quickly or it may not. Teenagers may be in a children’s unit or thrown into an adult one. Worse still, you may be sent hundreds of miles from home, where your parents struggle to be with you. It is absurd – no wonder the outcomes are so poor. |
| It is why on ITV News this week we are running a series of reports on the state of mental health care in Britain. An investigation by ITV News and the charity Young Minds has revealed that in the last year alone £35m has been cut from children and adolescent services, £80m in the past four years. | It is why on ITV News this week we are running a series of reports on the state of mental health care in Britain. An investigation by ITV News and the charity Young Minds has revealed that in the last year alone £35m has been cut from children and adolescent services, £80m in the past four years. |
| Worse, it is the early intervention services including those provided by local authorities in schools that have been hit hardest. So children with mental health problems are not being dealt with early enough and are ending up in wards – if they are lucky – where their problems worsen. | Worse, it is the early intervention services including those provided by local authorities in schools that have been hit hardest. So children with mental health problems are not being dealt with early enough and are ending up in wards – if they are lucky – where their problems worsen. |
| We highlight the case of one teenager suffering from depression who tried to take her own life and who claims there were no appropriate services locally to help her. Eventually she was referred to the child and adolescent mental health service but was placed on a waiting list for months. This cannot be right. We also met a 22-year-old girl with mental health problems forced to spend a night in a police cell because there were no beds available. It is a dire state of affairs and needs urgent attention. | We highlight the case of one teenager suffering from depression who tried to take her own life and who claims there were no appropriate services locally to help her. Eventually she was referred to the child and adolescent mental health service but was placed on a waiting list for months. This cannot be right. We also met a 22-year-old girl with mental health problems forced to spend a night in a police cell because there were no beds available. It is a dire state of affairs and needs urgent attention. |
| Who knows if the right help at the right time could have helped the mother whose funeral I went to last week? Her older daughter, 18, said at the service: “Although over the last few years life has been very tough for us, I believe she is finally at peace now, something it seems she would never have while still here.” How sad. How unremittingly sad. | Who knows if the right help at the right time could have helped the mother whose funeral I went to last week? Her older daughter, 18, said at the service: “Although over the last few years life has been very tough for us, I believe she is finally at peace now, something it seems she would never have while still here.” How sad. How unremittingly sad. |
| We met a 22-year-old girl with mental health problems forced to spend a night in a cell because there were no beds | We met a 22-year-old girl with mental health problems forced to spend a night in a cell because there were no beds |
| • Mark Austin is anchor of ITV News at Ten |