Service Use Over 18 Months among a Nationally Representative Sample of British Children with Psychiatric Disorder

Abstract

In 1999, a representative sample of 10,438 British 5-15-year-olds was assessed psychiatrically, 929 of these had a psychiatric disorder. Five hundred and ninety- six (64.2%) of these children with psychiatric disorder were followed up 18 months later using postal questionnaires and telephone interviews with parents, in order to chart their contacts with services over that 18-month period. About half had not been in contact with any services, while only one fifth had seen specialized mental health services. Although levels of extreme dissatisfaction were low, approximately as many parents felt that intervention had made no difference as felt that intervention had been helpful. Contacts with specialized mental health services seemed brief and often involved more than one type of service or professional. These results provide an interesting snapshot of services across Britain, which we hope will stimulate a productive debate on how best to improve services for this group of children.