Over 175,000 mental health appointments cancelled

A recent survey by Mind has revealed that a high number of children and adolescent mental health services have cancelled up to 175,000 appointments in the year up to July 2019.

This was a 25% increase on the previous year. It is understood this is due to a combination of staff shortages and growing demand from younger people for help with anxiety, depression and other conditions.

This is a worrying trend given that many of the cancelled appointments were for young people known to self-harm or contemplate suicide.

Julie Crossley, a medical negligence lawyer at Ashtons Legal, comments: “This is a worrying trend as numbers of referrals increase, the health service comes under greater strain and many clinicians are unable to cope and leave the service. It would be hoped that a new Government will get to grips with this section of the NHS and provide additional funding to cope with the demand. As lawyers, we sadly have to pick up the pieces when young people are failed by the mental health services and families bring legal claims against the Trust for loved ones who have taken their own lives due to failings in the mental health sector.”