Northern Ireland

Analysis: Next generation deserve better treatment by Stormont decision makers as Covid deepens child mental health crisis

Concerns are mounting about the long-term impact of lockdown and school closures on children
Concerns are mounting about the long-term impact of lockdown and school closures on children Concerns are mounting about the long-term impact of lockdown and school closures on children

LAST month a group of influential British doctors and charities wrote an open letter to Boris Johnson demanding the creation of a commission to tackle the Covid pandemic's "devastating effect" on children.

Young people's welfare had become a "national emergency", they said, and they pointed to the "yawning gap" in attainment between rich and poor kids following school closures.

Warnings about the inevitable rise in the number of children with mental health issues were also made, as the crisis deepened “with every day that lockdown keeps them isolated and uncertain about their futures”.

In Northern Ireland, schools were among the first to close in the UK at the beginning of the first wave and at a time when mental health services were already fire-fighting.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHs) in Belfast had the second highest referral rate in the entire NHS prior to Covid, while the reported suicide of five young people - including that of an 11-year-old boy - led to pleas for Stormont intervention last January.

Demand for CAMHs dropped last spring when there was a major downturn in face-to-face services and GPs effectively closed their doors by switching to telephone triage. However, referrals quickly began to soar within months.

Today's interview with consultant psychiatrist Dr Maggie McGurgan lays bare the impact of what happened on the ground for those 'at risk' CAMHs patients.

The dramatic rise in the number of children with eating disorders who are so ill they require urgent hospitalisation is disturbing enough, but what is equally worrying are medics' fears about those young people who not being seen.

For Dr McGurgan, it's the kids who have "not had eyes set on them" by the school teacher, the football coach and the singing teacher - who in many cases picked up initial warning signs - that have slipped through the cracks and are struggling in isolation.

And with more than 1,300 young people on waiting list for CAMHs at the end of last December, with some facing delays of 10 months, expert warnings about 'mental health tsunamis' are real.

In a plea to Stormont earlier this month, Northern Ireland's Mental Health Champion, Professor Siobhan O'Neill, called for an urgent and detailed plan to address the crisis.

She said this should include the prioritisation of schools re-opening through the vaccination of teachers and using options such as blended learning and alternative accommodation.

"I fear that unless we act now, and act strategically, that we will have failed a generation of young people," Professor O'Neill warned.

Soundings have been made by Stormont chiefs about their recognition of children's suffering throughout the pandemic - but their solution in tackling the crisis has been piecemeal and reactive.

Special schools re-opened in the second wave - following the furore of the impact in the first - while only the children of key workers attend mainstream schools. Outdoor kids' sports have been on hold for the best part of a year despite Irish league matches resuming.

Scottish and Welsh primary school children will return on a phased basis next week. Classrooms will not open in the north until March 8 at the earliest for "some".

While the challenge of tackling the impact of Covid on children's mental health services and education is enormous during a period of emerging variants and severe hospital pressures, it's one that must take precedence.

As the signatories to the open letter put it: "the next generation deserves better".

Read more: 

  • Spike in number of teens' eating disorders linked to pandemic
  • More than 1,300 vulnerable children and teenagers on waiting list for specialist mental health services