Improve Childrens' Mental Health Care in UK

Our NHS provides regular free health check-ups for children as they grow. We routinely check their physical development, measure their height, weight, test their sight and hearing and provide regular dental checks. This allows that physical problems may be identified as early as possible, we can prevent conditions from worsening and restore physical health to the best degree possible.

We are concerned that the NHS currently lacks such care and responsiblity for childrens' mental health.
At present a child's mental health problems can be left unnoticed and uncared for over periods of months or even years, whilst the condition worsens and the child continues to suffer. It is often only when mental health problems begin to manifest physically, perhaps through behavourial problems, truancy, anorexia, self-harm or suicide attempts that parents, carers, teachers or medical professionals may begin to notice and take some degree of action.


Whilst we appreciate that there are organisations such as Childline which exist to help children struggling with problems, such services can only help if troubled children are able to take the initiative to seek and find help, and have the means to access such services, to the exclusion of many.
This responsibility for their own mental wellbeing cannot be placed on children.
We believe that just as we do not leave a child responsible for their own physical health and development, children should not be left with the responsibility to take the first step in seeking help with their mental health.
We believe it necessary to introduce a pro-active system which does not wait for troubled children to seek and find help, but which seeks to find children suffering with mental health problems and begin to help them at the earliest possible stage.

We propose that an annual mental health check-up for all children of school age is necessary to fulfill our duty of care to them.
A child who is unhappy, stressed, depressed, suffering from grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, being bullied or abused in any form or struggling with a particular problem or addiction should be offered help, free of charge, at an appropriate level in order to restore mental health as quickly as possible.
Children should meet with a specialised professional who can ask questions regarding mental health, listen carefully and recognise any mental health issues that a child may have. Children may then be referred to other professionals as appropriate, perhaps a tutor, counsellor, social worker or medical professional.


We believe that regular mental health check-ups are equally vital to childrens' healthy development as are physical check-ups.

We demand that the NHS take suitable action in meeting their responsibility to care for childrens' mental health and wellbeing.