Greg described how families in West Kent are being let down by the local Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) to an influential health committee today.
Greg addressed a meeting of Kent County Council's Health & Overview Scrutiny Committee to present evidence, drawn from constituents, on long waiting times, poor communication and other problems with the service that is causing great distress to many families.
Greg called upon the Committee to use its powers to ask the Secretary of State for Health to investigate the adequacy of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service in Kent and to invite a team from an excellent mental health trust to review the service locally.
Greg commented:
"If a child or a teenager experiences mental illness, they should be able to count on the same standard of care they would be given if they had a physical condition. It is a bitter disappointment to me and many young people and their families that the local mental health service is not working as was promised.
"This situation cannot continue. Vulnerable young people in Tunbridge Wells are waiting nearly 4 months for an initial specialist assessment.
"And on average 10 children in every Kent secondary school are waiting for treatment having been assessed as needing it.
"I am grateful that the KCC Committee backed unanimously my call for urgent action to sort out this situation".
Click here to watch Greg give evidence to the Committee.