Schools have made more than 120,000 referrals for mental health treatment in four years, but almost of third of these children have been declined specialist treatment, Freedom of Information figures have revealed.
An investigation led by the NSPCC found that NHS Trusts in England have received 123,713 referrals since 2014/15 from schools seeking help for pupils from NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Furthermore, the number of referrals to CAMHS has been steadily increasing year-on-year. In 2014/15 there were 25,140 referrals, a figure which in 2017/18 reached 34,757 – the equivalent of 183 every school day.
However, nearly a third (31 per cent) of the referrals from schools to CAMHS over the last three years were declined treatment as they did not meet the criteria for support.
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