Almost 240,000 children in the East of England who have been abused or neglected are being let down by a postcode lottery in mental health, the NSPCC estimates.
The charity’s analysis of local plans published by NHS commissioners which set out how they will care for children’s mental health showed every single one across the region failed to properly plan for the needs of children who have been abused or neglected.
The NSPCC is calling on every NHS Clinical Commissioning Group in the East to urgently include the needs of children who have suffered abuse in their strategies.
Research shows that children who have suffered abuse are twice as likely to develop clinical depression. But an estimated 238,093 children in the East of England who have suffered abuse or neglect are living in an area with inadequate plans for their mental health needs, or with no plan for their care whatsoever.
Across England an estimated 1.2 million children who have been abused or neglected are being let down by this postcode lottery.
NSPCC Trustee and clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron said: “Failing to plan is planning to fail, and alarmingly most CCGs are setting themselves up to fail children who have already been through abuse and trauma.
“It is unacceptable that despite the huge number of children estimated to have been abused, and the known link between abuse and mental health problems, the vast majority of our health services do not have a proper strategy for how to take care of these children.
“CCGs need to urgently review and improve their plans so that they are fully prepared to help children when they need it most. And Government needs to hold CCGs to account to publish high quality plans in a timely fashion every year.”
