A London Assembly member has written to children's mental health services in Greenwich urging 'urgent intervention' after it received a low score following a national report.

Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was ranked 14 out of 25 by the nation's Children's Commissioner in a recently released report, the worst score in south east London.

The 'State of Children's Mental Health Services' report judged services on five key indicators, including the mental health budget per child, the average waiting times and the number of young people in contact with mental health services.

Following the score, which places Greenwich in the bottom half of the country, Len Duvall AM has written to the borough's CCG asking them how they plan to urgently improve their mental health provision for children.

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A spokesperson for NHS South East London CCG said the report did not reflect recent investment or improvement to the services, with significant funding aiding a transformation plan.

Duvall said whilst there is an urgent need for more government funding, the data "clearly shows Greenwich is performing far worse than many other London boroughs."

“We risk seriously letting young people down unless we give these services the support they need to get up to scratch.

"The ramifications of childhood mental ill health can be long lasting and devastating, so investment in early intervention is crucial and something I hope you will agree is of high priority."

Data from the report shows that between April 2019 and March 2020, children and young people in Greenwich had to wait an average of 56 days after their initial mental health referral to access a follow-up appointment.

And 27% of referrals were closed before treatment, plus 26% reported as still waiting.

But 97% of Greenwich CCG's budget allocation is currently spent on children and young peoples' mental health, one of the highest in the country.

The borough also din't fall into the bottom 20% for any of the key indicators.

Elsewhere in south east London, Bromley scored the highest rating with 18, Lewisham 17 and Bexley 15.

Len Duvall AM also raised concerns that the impact of the pandemic, including overcrowded living conditions during lockdown and school closures, will have driven up demand for already underperforming mental health services.

He added: "I want to see every young person in our borough able to access help when they need it, from services properly resourced by both CCGs and Central Government."

Performance's across London were extremely mixed, with Barking and Dagenham CCG awarded a score of 22 and Richmond CCG a score of nine.

 This follows Anne Longfield OBE, the long-standing and outgoing Children's Commissioner, calling the Government out of touch and even showing 'institutional bias' against children.

Statistics show that nation-wide, one in nine children aged 5-19 had a probable mental health disorder in 2017.

In 2020, this had risen to one in six, prior to the pandemic.

There was a 35% increase in referrals to children’s mental health services in 2019/20, but just a 4% rise in the number of children receiving support from the NHS in 2019/20.

A spokesman for NHS South East London CCG said: "The mental health of children and young people is a real priority for NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group in Greenwich. We have a firm commitment to improve emotional wellbeing and mental health. The Children’s Commissioner’s report does not reflect recent investment and improvement of services or the range of services available for children and young people in the borough.

"We have a comprehensive Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) transformation plan which is updated annually. We have increased significantly the funding provided to mental health services for children and young people in the borough.

"For example we have invested an additional £837,000 in a two year pilot with Mental Health Support Teams working in 20 schools in areas with high deprivation and the large BAME populations. This project started in January 2020 and since April 183 young people have accessed the service despite schools being closed for a significant amount of that time.

"Waiting times have reduced significantly. In December 2020 95% of patients referred to Greenwich CAMHS were assessed within eight weeks and, where treatment was the right option, 81.6% received treatment within 12 weeks of their referral. 

"We have also commissioned Kooth, an anonymous online counselling and mental wellbeing support service. This has been well used in the borough since launch in April 2019 and feedback is positive. Anyone aged 10-25 who lives in the borough is able to register and use the service at Kooth.com."