Father demands inquiry after two-year wait for care

A father who has been waiting two years for his child to receive mental health support has petitioned the government to hold an inquiry into the delays.

Tom Tunney, from Thatcham, said his teenage child has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism, and has not been in school full time since a referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in 2024.

The child is not able leave the house unsupported, as the condition "affects every aspect of their life", said the dad.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the BBC it was "accelerating the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges".

"We have already helped nearly 40,000 more young people access support," they said, adding that an extra £688m investment in mental health services this year meant "we've hired 7,000 additional mental health workers".

Tunney said his child has been waiting for mental health support since the diagnosis by Camhs in 2024.

He said: "It's very difficult to deal with because, while you are on a waiting list, you are not able to reassure your child when they will be able to get help and that makes the problem worse because it's all that anxiety not knowing.

"If your child broke their leg you wouldn't think it is fair to make them wait for two years to have their leg fixed... it seems that mental health seems to take a lower priority than physical health, which is just as debilitating".

According to NHS England mental health services data, the median waiting time from referral to first contact was 35 days in 2020-21, rising to 83 days in 2023-24.

The most recent figures show a median wait time of 63 days in 2024-25. The data includes services in all secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services.

The number of people aged under 18 waiting for these services increased by more than 2,500 from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Newbury Liberal Democrat MP Lee Dillon is supporting the petition and said he has seen many parents in Tunney's situation.

Families across Newbury and West Berkshire "continue to contact me with the same story", he said.

"Children deteriorating while they wait, parents desperate and a service so stretched that early intervention simply isn't happening.

"These are not isolated cases, they are part of a wider pattern caused by years of underfunding, understaffing, and a lack of political urgency."

Amy Miles, from Newbury, said she has been waiting three years for Camhs support for her daughter, who suffers from cyclic vomiting syndrome "to do with stress and anxiety".

She told the BBC she has seen progress in her daughter's referral, adding: "But that is not without a fight and a battle and me screaming at the top of my lungs".

Describing the services as "disjointed", she said: "I can ring talking therapy tomorrow and be straight back on the waiting list and [get] an appointment within a few weeks - [Camhs] process just doesn't work.

"I'm at a point I am not coping so well when I see her having those meltdowns, it terrifies me and she's seeing me making emergency phone calls to Camhs and emergency NHS 111 because I don't know where to go with it."

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said reducing wait times "remains a key priority".

It said "focused quality improvement actions, including more robust caseload management, introduction of a new job planning tool for clinicians and the development of new services" meant the average wait time to receive initial help from its Camhs services in West Berkshire was "now approximately seven weeks".

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