"Poor CAMHS service"

 My child was in crisis yesterday and after phoning for help we were passed on to the emergency duty team. A telephone call at 4.45pm was beyond the pale. I felt there was a complete disregard of what I was telling them.

There was nobody available to even speak to them or assess the situation despite them being told how unstable and unsafe my child was. This led to me being told to either call the police, an ambulance or go to A&E and wait 8 hours minimum to be seen (despite the fact we are all told not to go to a&e if we can avoid it at the moment). It felt they just said anything they could think to say to fob it all on to someone else. It is a complete let down to vulnerable young people and their families and a total embarrassment and disgrace to the fantastic NHS service in our area. I believe something has to change before young lives are lost needlessly because there is no help available.