This means the safety of young people is being compromised as they wait for beds to become available. In many cases, when beds do become available, they are often in distant parts of the country meaning separation from family and friends for prolonged periods.

Funding is the main problem

Insecure or short term funding is viewed as a prime culprit for the severely inadequate early intervention services which are designed to provide support to children and young people before mental health symptoms worsen. 

Despite an increasing demand for mental health services for children and young people, many clinical commissioning groups have decided to freeze or cut funding altogether. With such little priority given to children's and adolescents' mental health, the committee is concerned that not enough is being done to provide the level of care needed. The committee has called for the DH/NHS England Task force to monitor and provide more funding for CAMHS services until acceptable standards have been met.