Mental health. Wait not, want not?

The rise in numbers of young people with mental health problems meant that one trust had a waiting list of 143 patients in this group, some of whom had been waiting for over a year. Only 30 per cent of parents of children on the list responded positively to a letter asking them if they wanted their child to remain on the list, resulting in 100 patients being removed. Of these patients, 10 were re-referred within two years, four of them with more severe symptoms. The average time of treatment was longer than for children who had remained on the list, requiring more clinical resources.