Mental health charity struggles with rising demand

As NHS waiting lists continue to rise, an independent mental health charity has said it is struggling to cope with surging demand for its services.

Response, Oxfordshire's largest mental health charity, provides free support for young people across the Thames Valley as part of its work.

But its associate director Jamie Douglas said the organisation was "suddenly experiencing higher wait times than we'd like" as more people sought help.

The pressure comes as figures show 28% of children and young people face waits of over a year to receive mental health support through the NHS.

"What we're finding is that the parents... are looking for support while their young people are waiting and they're coming to us, and that's therefore increasing the demand that we're trying to meet," Douglas told the BBC.

"I think that just shows what's going on in the wider system."

One parent, from Berkshire, told the BBC that she had to "fight tooth and nail" to get support for her daughter's anxiety through the NHS.

"The NHS are blockers, effectively. Honestly, the process is just ridiculous," the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

"Whereas I can ring up Response, and it's 'yep, no problem, we'll put you on the waiting list and it'll be a few weeks'."

"What it's done is given her these opportunities to discuss in a neutral environment things that are going on - it makes a really big difference to her wellbeing and her level-headedness," she said.

But Douglas said the charity was now looking for further funding to continue that work with more children.

"We're wanting to do more, because we're seeing more [children] that are coming through our door and our waiting list is about a year," he said.

"We really want to get to those young people sooner so that they're not sitting on our waiting list, as well as sitting on other waiting lists within the NHS as well."

Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust said it was working to "improve information, simplify processes, and ensure there was 'no wrong door' so that children and young people can get the right help quickly".

"We know that pathways between services are not always as smooth as we would like them to be," the trust said.

The BBC has also contacted Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Integrated Care Board for comment.

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