A new data map produced by Centre for Mental Health in collaboration with Kooth has revealed stark disparities in children and young people’s mental health across the four UK nations and between local areas. With around 200 children in an average secondary school in England having a current mental health difficulty, it is a clear call to action for national and local government policymakers to address the imbalance, protect children’s mental health, and take immediate action to ensure that every young person has equitable access to support they need to thrive and flourish. Titled ‘Mapping the Mental Health of the UK's Young People’ is the first of its kind to gather data from multiple sources including the NHS Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 survey, a range of national surveys from the devolved nations, and multiple indicator profiles from the Fingertips Public Health Profiles database.
The data highlights that one in five children and young people aged 8-19 in England experiences a mental health difficulty. Rates get higher as children get older, from 157 in every 1,000 children aged 8-10 to 226 among young people aged 11-16 and 233 17-19-year-olds. The map finds that Rotherham had the highest number of new referrals to children’s specialist mental health services (182 per 1,000 compared to a national average of 70).
Herefordshire recorded the highest number of hospital admissions (309 per 100,000 compared to a national average of 81). Th.
