Fears have been raised that mental health provision for children and young people in Norfolk is "not fit for purpose", as bosses conceded demand outstrips the capacity to help.
Referrals of children with urgent eating disorders quadrupled during the Covid-19 pandemic, while almost 4,000 people aged 25 and under are still awaiting assessment and treatment after initial referrals for mental health services.
Health bosses say that since the pandemic the numbers of children and young people presenting in crisis has risen dramatically.
They warn that the problem has been compounded by the closure of mental health beds, which has meant people have had to stay in other hospital wards longer than necessary or in the community without full support.
Health bosses say the pandemic contributed to the surging demand, while recruitment issues mean it is a struggle to ensure everybody gets the right support in good time.
They told a meeting of Norfolk County Council's scrutiny committee, where the issues were discussed on Wednesday (March 30), that action was being taken to reduce waits and get earlier intervention.
Concern at waits
Giles Hankinson, who represents parents and governors on the committee, described a case where a child had waited seven months to see psychiatrists, after initially visiting a GP with mental health concerns in September.
He said during that period the child had self-harmed and been admitted to hospital.
Mr Hankinson said: "If that child had broken their arm in September they would have been seen by a doctor immediately."
Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall, said he feared the system was "not fit for purpose".
He said: "At a time of growing demand, with more and more children and young people awaiting assessment, it appears we do not have a system, sadly, that is fit for purpose."
'Enormous' levels of need
James Wilson, the county council's director of quality and transformation in children's services, said children were not getting help as quickly as the authority would like.
He said: "There's a very clear acknowledgment that the level of need in the system is enormous.
"Therefore we are well aware, today, that not every child who would like to get support is getting it as fast as we would like. That is just a clear truth."
He said the level of need was creating "capacity strains" and a lot of the challenges Norfolk was facing were mirrored across the country, exacerbated by Covid-19 and lockdown.
But he said measures were being taken by all organisations involved, including the council and the NHS, to put together a "comprehensive response" to tackle the problems.
He said the "right interventions" were being put in place, with a more preventative, community-led approach, which was not just up to the NHS to manage.
That includes making it less complex and clearer for children, families and professionals to know where to seek help.
Rebecca Hulme, associate director for children, young people and maternity at Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and health issues lead for the council's children's services department, said extra resources had been put in to try to cut waiting times.
She said early intervention prevention work was crucial and a leaflet for young people had been produced to show where immediate support was available.
She said that included informing children and young people about organisations, such as MIND and MAP, which she said provided excellent support.
Urgent eating disorder needs quadrupled
Since the pandemic, the number of eating disorder referrals more than doubled with those needing 'urgent' supporting going up four-fold, which Green county councillor Jamie Osborn asked for more detail about.
Ms Hulme said: "It has been worrying over this period that we have seen such an increase in children presenting."
She said that was not just a Norfolk issue and national studies suggested it was because children did not have their usual coping mechanisms due to lockdown.
And she said when children did seek help, their needs were more urgent, because their illness was being picked up later as they were spending so much time isolated.
John Fisher, cabinet member for children's services at Norfolk County Council said: "We are not only identifying the problems, but getting to the crux and coming up with a system to deal with the problems in front of us."
The CCG commissions mental health services, including from the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust.
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