The number of children referred to a trust which offers mental health services to children in Oldham has hit a five-year high, leading to lengthy waiting lists.

Data obtained by Medical Negligence Assist through Freedom of Information requests has found that number of mental health referrals for children to Pennine Care NHS Trust has soared by 79 per cent in the last five years.

Last year alone, Pennine Care received 27,822 referrals, up from 15,546 in 2019.

This has led to the estimated average waiting time for a child to get their first appointment following a referral being 16 weeks, with the longest wait for one child lasting four years.

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Pennine Care, which covers Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Stockport, Tameside and Glossop, has said that as of October 16, 9,214 children and young people were on their waiting list for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), which is not just those waiting for a first appointment.

The trust also said the majority of the waits are for children and young people (7,840) who are at different stages of completing an autism or ADHD assessment.

In Oldham, Pennine Care said 790 children and young people are waiting for assessment and treatment, 547 of whom are at various stages of assessment or treatment for autism or ADHD assessment

In the last year, the 1,841 children who had been referred to Pennine Care had their application closed before accessing support.

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Referrals can be rejected or "deemed inappropriate" for numerous reasons, including that other services may already be working with the child or they do not meet the CAMHS eligibility criteria. 

Sarah Preedy, chief operating officer at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Like similar services across England, there has been huge increase in demand for autism and ADHD assessments in Greater Manchester and more young people than ever require support.

"This does unfortunately impact on waiting times which we know can be stressful and difficult for families.  

“We have highlighted this issue to NHS Greater Manchester, who commission these services and are working with them and other partners to expand our existing services and develop alternative services to meet the needs of families and children.

“Our current services continue to provide much-needed mental health support for families in all our boroughs, this includes our young people’s mental health support teams who work with over 200 schools to help children who are experiencing low level emotional and behavioural difficulties; our parent-infant services who support families and babies; through to children and young people in urgent need of care or intensive support which is provided by our crisis pathway team.”