50,760 people left facing lengthy waits for mental health support in South Yorkshire

Of these 10,080 are children, facing waits of months, or even years, for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. As many as 40,680 adults have also been left waiting.

The long waits are replicated across England, where the mental health waiting list stands at a shocking 1.8 million. Over 470,000 of these are children, whose families are left helpless while their children's mental health is left unsupported, and at risk of deteriorating further.

Last year, survey research by Young Minds found that one-in-four young people had tried to take their own life as a result of facing a long wait for mental health support.

Separately, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ research has found that over three quarters of people on mental health waiting lists have had to resort to emergency services due to a mental health crisis.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, said:

“Thirteen years of Conservative mismanagement has left NHS services struggling to cope with rising demand. It is heartbreaking that patients are being left waiting months or even years for support, their mental health often deteriorating to crisis point in the meantime. The system is failing patients and they have nowhere else to turn.

“The Government must tackle the rising waiting lists to ensure everyone can access treatment in a timely manner. Instead, they have scrapped their 10 year mental health plan and put reforming the Mental Health Act on the backburner.

“Labour has a plan to recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff to drive down waiting lists, paid for by closing tax loopholes. The next Labour Government will also ensure access to a mental health professional in every school and will put an open access mental health hub in every community, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.”

Lee Pitcher, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme, said “Patients in South Yorkshire are being left behind on long waiting lists for mental health support. Our patients cannot continue to be forgotten by this Conservative Government that has run down our NHS.

"With children stuck on long waiting lists, parents and families are left helpless. Having to take time off work to take care of their children.

“While this Government continues to fail patients, the next Labour Government will put patients' needs first, with a preventative approach to mental health treatment."