Abused kids ‘sidelined’

THOUSANDS of children across north Essex who have been abused or neglected are being “sidelined” by mental health services, it has been claimed.

The NSPCC is calling on NHS England to set out how it will prioritise the needs of vulnerable children

The children’s charity analysed the latest annual mental health plans published by NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The plans set out how they will care for children’s mental health and the NSPCC found across England, 82 per cent were not properly planning for the needs of vulnerable children.

In the East of England an estimated 182,213 children who have been abused or neglected are living in an area with inadequate plans for their mental health needs.

For North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, there are 3,729 children under 11-years-old and 5,307 children over 11-years-old in the same situation.

A spokesperson for North East Essex CCG, on behalf of the Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health Service commissioning team, said:

“Our services will provide care for any vulnerable child or young person in need of mental health support and we review and revise our plan to ensure transformation is meeting our priorities.”

“Ensuring our services meet the needs of all children and young people, especially vulnerable children and young people remains our priority in the transformation of the provision across Southend, Essex and Thurrock, our Open Up Reach Out plan was assured by NHS England in December 2018.”