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Guernsey's CAMHS has seen a 14% rise in the number of children needing support, with a small number of those children having such complex needs that they've been admitted to an adult mental health ward at the Oberlands.
The figures have been revealed in the 2023 Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Report.
It's the first report of its kind, after the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy was launched last year.
Pictured: The 2023 Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Annual Report can be read in full HERE.
The report proves that mental health concerns in children are rising with a 14% increase in the number of referrals to the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
There were 585 referrals in 2022 and 684 referrals in 2023.
CAMHS is the specialist mental health service that assesses and treats young people (age 18 and under) with emotional, behavioural, or mental health difficulties.
The service is based at the Oberlands and it works through referrals made by GPs, schools, charities and other bodies working in the community. All referrals are prioritised on the basis of risk.
Where children and young people are deemed at a high risk and in need of specialist urgent care for their mental health and well being there are other options available to them, with some of the island's most critically affected young people being admitted to the adult Crevichon Ward.
Crevichon Ward is an in-patient facility, within the Oberlands site at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital. It is described by the States as being part of the Adult Mental Health Service, but the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Report has confirmed some children are placed there when necessary.
The numbers involved are very small, with fewer than five children admitted to Crevichon Ward in both 2022 and 2023.
Pictured: The 2023 Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Annual Report can be read in full HERE.
A further issue raised through the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Report is the length of stays on a mental health ward once a child or adolescent is admitted.
Fewer than five young people were admitted to the adult Crevichon Ward during both 2022 and 2023 but their length of stay has been described as "disproportionately high" compared to a young person's stay on Frossard Ward (the children's ward at the PEH).
The authors of the Report state that "this highlights the level of complexity of these cases".
No information is given about the individual cases and why the young person has been admitted to Crevichon Ward due to patient confidentiality, and no information is given about the breadth of care given to children under CAMHS.
We do know that CAMHS works with children and young people who are experiencing "moderate to severe mental health difficulties, which are significantly impacting upon their daily functioning or are associated with risk".
CAMHS support covers anxiety disorders, depression, self-harm, neurodevelopmental disorders, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, and psychotic illness.
CAMHS will also see those in acute emotional distress that need assessment of risk and those with unexplained severe deterioration in psychological functioning.
The Report confirms that there has been an increase in both the number of referrals to the service and the proportion of referrals accepted for treatment.
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