CHILDREN and young people in Ealing had to wait an average of 20 days for a follow-up appointment after their initial mental health referral, fresh analysis has shown.

Meanwhile the average waiting times for a second appointment in neighbouring boroughs such as Hounslow and Hillingdon were much higher, with an average of 39 and 46 days respectively.

The data comes from the Children's Commissioner's report on the state of children mental health services between April 2019 and March 2020, which showed how Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in West London ranked low in data across 190 providers across the country.

In the findings published last month, CCGs were given a score out of 25, based on key indicators.

These were the percentage of the CCG's budget spent on children and young people's mental health, mental health spend per child, the percentage of children and young people in contact with mental services, the average waiting time for services and the percentage of mental referrals closed before treatment.

Ealing ranked lowest among the three neighbouring West London boroughs, with 11 out of 25.

Hillingdon and Hounslow on the other hand both scored 13 out of 25.

The analysis found that for Ealing, three out of five of the measured indicators scored in the bottom 20%.

Meanwhile East London Barking and Dagenham CCG was overall scored at 22 out of 25 – putting it in the top ten best in the country.

It also had the best average waiting time in the country of just eight days for a second appointment.

The worst waiting time nationwide was 87 days, recorded for NHS Fylde and Wyre CCG.

Reacting to the figures, Dr Onkar Sahota, the Greater London Authority member for Ealing and Hillingdon fears that the impact of the pandemic will have driven up demand for 'already underperforming' mental health services.

He said: "We risk seriously letting young people down unless we give these services the support they need to get up to scratch.

"Lockdown and school closures have clearly taken their toll on many children, especially those stuck in cramped and overcrowded homes, temporary accommodation or abusive households.

"I want to see every young person in our borough able to access help when they need it, from services properly resourced by both CCGs and central government."

According to government data, by the end of September 2020, 3,232 children in Ealing were living in temporary accommodation.

Dr Sahota is also backing calls from the former Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield, who left the post last month, to expand the rollout of mental health support teams for joint action between schools and the NHS.

He added: "The ramifications of childhood mental ill health can be long lasting and devastating, so investment in early intervention isn't just desirable, it's crucial.

"I want to see the government recognise that and scale-up mental health support for children and young people".

A spokesperson for North West London Health and Care Partnership said: "Access to community CAMHS services has improved over the past 12 months in line with the national standard set out by the NHS Long Term Plan.

"The CCG's investment into children and young people's mental health services has also increased in line with the expectations outlined by NHS England & NHS Improvement.

"This will go some way to address the rising demand for services as a result of COVID-19 as well as existing inequalities in access and outcomes, in order to improve services for children and young people."