Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham, claims that CAMHS is 'not fit for purpose' due to long waiting lists and underfunding.

CAMHS is a mental health service that supports young people experiencing poor mental health or difficult feelings or experiences.

She said that when she first came into her Twickenham seat in 2019 she was "alarmed" at the number of emails and "horror stories" she received from "dismayed parents" detailing their child's mental health issues and problems with the service.   

Ms Wilson said: "There was a huge need that was not being met and that was exacerbated by the pandemic."  

Munira Wilson is the Education Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat party and announced the party's plan to provide a qualified Mental Health practitioner in schools, in her keynote speech at the Lib Dem Conference a few weeks ago.

She said: "When we invest in education we invest in our children, in their potential, and in our country's future growth."

Under the party's plans, the Government would fund a dedicated, qualified mental health professional in each of England's 22,000 state-funded schools. 

The money would be raised by trebling the Digital Services Tax, paid by social media companies and search engines, from 2% of a company's revenues to 6%. 

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Ms Wilson anecdotally told Nub News about a a seven-year-old child being restrained at a primary school in her constituency after a mental health episode.

The child was later excluded on a fixed term basis, leaving a single mother to cope with his care alone.

Another seven-year-old had waited 16 months for a mental health assessment, intensifying their mental distress, only to be told they had to wait another year. 

Ms Wilson stressed the importance of early intervention for providing children with mental health support, despite these services frequently being stripped back in school budget cuts. 

The news follows recent revelations that ministers plan to move 23 doctor training posts in child and adolescent psychiatry from London to other parts of the country by 2030/31. 

Ms Wilson argued it was "nonsensical" and "deprived" London of much-needed mental health professionals. 

Acknowledging that mental health issues were approached on a regional basis according to Integrated Health Care Systems, causing a disproportionate amount of spending, Ms Wilson argued mental health professionals in every school would help combat this. 

She added that extracurricular activities were also important for supporting children's wellbeing and that these are often the first things to be cut when money is tight.

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Speaking at the Lib Dem conference in she said: "School trips, music lessons, sports teams and coding clubs all broaden children's horizons. Yet they are the first to be scrapped when school budgets are squeezed."