Tackling children’s mental health waiting lists through innovation

Richard Stubbs

Chair, Health Innovation Network

Mental health issues among young people are rising, with 1 in 5 children in England now living with a probable mental health disorder,¹ and nearly 40,000 children are waiting at least two years for support.²

Across England, the Health Innovation Network is implementing and scaling innovations and new models of care which can reduce waiting lists and better support our children and young people.

Integrating support

Two North West London Child Health Hubs (CHHs) have been selected as Implementation Sites to test improved integration of mental health provision in North London. They will receive dedicated support to implement wider integration of mental health provision and neurodevelopmental expertise in existing, successful CHHs, addressing challenges around driving earlier intervention and collaborating across sectors to reduce fragmentation and treat children holistically. Local health innovation network, Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP), coordinated this call for sites as part of the region’s research and innovation Mission to support children and young people’s mental health.

Speeding up diagnosis

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimates the global prevalence of ADHD in children to be around 5% (1 in 20), with undiagnosed and/or untreated ADHD having a significant impact on personal development, academic outcomes and family interaction. In 2020, we launched our award-winning Focus ADHD national programme, rolling out the innovation QbTest — an objective assessment tool to assist in the diagnosis of ADHD. Three-quarters of all NHS trusts that provide ADHD services have adopted the innovation, and since April 2020, more than 77,000 children and young people have benefited; around 95,000 hours of clinical capacity have been released; and an estimated £38.5 million of cost savings have been achieved for the NHS.

This comprehensive approach will help improve
mental health outcomes for children and young
people, ensuring they have a healthier future.

Treatment to prevention

This isn’t an invention challenge. We already have an NHS pipeline of proven, evidence-based innovations being supported across the Network that, if implemented more widely, could have a national impact. One example is myHappymind, a programme that teaches preventative mental health strategies to children, teachers and parents. It supports the prevention of mental health issues and deals with low-level mental health challenges or ‘early help’.

All of this supports a reduction in CAMHS referrals and reduces pressure on the NHS. Similarly, Tellmi, a scalable digital peer support solution that provides both early intervention and crisis support, aims to address the growing demand for services and tackle health inequalities for young people.

Supporting the future of child healthtech

Through Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber (HIYH), the health innovation network provides leadership for the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Paediatrics and Child Health as well as supporting the new National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT), a groundbreaking facility dedicated to advancing children’s healthcare through innovation and technology based in Sheffield’s Olympic Legacy Park.

The NCCHT is poised to make a significant impact on child mental health through early detection, innovative technologies, digital therapeutic solutions and collaborative efforts. This comprehensive approach will help improve mental health outcomes for children and young people, ensuring they have a healthier future.

There is an opportunity to transform children’s health and wellbeing through the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, plus a focus on the implementation of innovations already being used by local health services across the country.

[1] https://rethink.org/news-and-stories/news-and-views/2024/the-hidden-toll-of-camhs-waiting-lists-on-young-people-s-mental-health/
[2] https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/over-a-quarter-of-a-million-children-still-waiting-for-mental-health-support/