CHILDREN could be spending the summer holidays without mental health help, a doctor has warned.

Dr Philip Mayes said the complicated system by which children are referred for mental health appointments could result in some not getting support.

The partner at Kingswood Surgery, Park North, told a meeting of Swindon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group’s governing body, branded the system bizarre.

He said: “One of the issues I’ve come across is access to services in the school holidays. We have real problems if children access services through schools, they have no access to service.

“I’ve had referrals refused to me saying they should be coming through the school when we make referrals in [to the NHS or Swindon Borough Council].

“I’ve also had children be referred to me from the school, saying please make a referral because we’ve used our allocation that has then bounced.

“It’s a bizarre system and it really doesn’t seem to make sense.”

In January, the latest month for which data is available, 905 children and young people were being supported by mental health services in Swindon.

NHS chiefs have previously expressed concerns about waiting times and access to support, with children often having to be referred through schools.

At a discussion at the CCG’s governing body this week, executive nurse Gill May said they had demanded improvements from Swindon Borough Council and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which provide targeted children’s mental health services.

CCG governors raised concerns that some children were able to access targeted mental health support through their schools, while others were going without.

Ms May admitted: “It is inequitable. At the moment, we know some schools by a block of targeted mental health services at the beginning of the educational year almost just in case they need to access it.”

She said schools needed to be better at offering early mental health support to youngsters and their families, rather than automatically referring them to what is known as tier two and tier three mental health service providers.

Better monitoring of child mental health services would allow them to understand how many children were struggling to access support, she said. Daily meetings between the council and Oxford Health would help tackle waiting list delays.

Swindon Borough Council has been given 12 months to demonstrate improvements.

CCG responds

A spokeswoman for Swindon CCG said: "Kooth is online counselling service that is available 365 days a year until 10 pm at night in Swindon to help children and young people. There are also daily meetings taking place with mental health professionals ensuring that each referred child or young person receives the right service at the right time.

"For children and young people with higher level needs or in crisis including out of hours periods, there is a service available through Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The CCG monitor the waiting times for treatment closely with this and other providers who supply services for its population.

"There are also two mental health liaison workers based at the Great Western Hospital 5 days a week. These workers are working with any child or young person who presents to the hospital for mental health related issues and support the child into the right community support.”

New service enjoys success - CCG

A new online mental health support service, Kooth, was already enjoying success.

Swindon CCG commissioned the website to help Swindon youngsters earlier this year. It contains advice on mental health issues and offers young people access to online counsellors and moderated forums.

The service launched in March and was already having an effect. Ms May, executive nurse, said: “It’s going incredibly well.”

Chairman Paul Byrnes said: “One would expect Kooth uptake in the school holidays is likely to increase, often associated with going on holiday with your parents I would imagine.”