Key Summary
- NHS shows that 932,822 under‑18s had an active referral to mental health services,
- New referrals are up 11 per cent from February and 2 per cent higher than the same time last year.
- Combined urgent, very urgent, and emergency referrals reached a record 8,631 (a 16% monthly increase).
NHS England data shows that 932,822 under‑18s had an active referral to mental health services in March, including 134,837 new referrals, according to YoungMinds.
Both figures are the highest recorded for a single month, while urgent, very urgent, and emergency referrals also reached a new high of 8,631, an increase of 16 per cent from the previous month.
Very urgent referrals had an increase of 10 per cent when compared to February.
Urgent cases are seen within 24 hours, very urgent cases are seen within 4 hours, and emergency cases are addressed within one hour by an emergency department.
Young people continue to face long waits for mental health services with the average waiting time rising to 301 days and the longest wait reaching 1,006 days.
New referrals are up 11 per cent from February and 2 per cent higher than the same time last year. The number of active referrals also includes young people waiting to start treatment and those already receiving support.
In some cases, young people had to wait more than two and a half years, which is an increase of 146 days from last year.
Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive at YoungMinds said, “These alarming figures highlight the sheer scale of the mental health emergency. While waiting lists for the treatment of physical health problems are going down, the time young people are spending trying to access specialist support for their mental health continues to rise.
“So many pressures are harming young people’s mental health, including academic demands, rising living costs and inequality. We need more investment in mental health services, but we also need to tackle these root causes of poor mental health. The announcement that a cross-government mental health strategy is to be developed is welcome but with a record number of young people being referred for support we can’t wait until that strategy is in place to turn things around. We need both a long-term plan and urgent action.”
