A SUICIDAL teenager was turned away from two hospitals and other’s cries for help are being ignored, councillors heard.

Although more Brighton and Hove children with diagnosable mental health issues are receiving help, figures for April to July this year show only one in three has received treatment.

The numbers being referred to specialist youth mental health service CAMHS has more than doubled from 57 to 124 in the last year.

At Monday’s children, young people and skills committee, Labour Councillor Caroline Penn said children in the city are being “let down”, giving the example of the suicidal young teenager turned away from two hospitals.

She said when the girl went with her family to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital no one was available to see her. The girl then went to A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital next door, but was still not seen and left in a distressed state.

Councillor Penn said: “I feel very frustrated we are having the same conversations and nothing has changed. This time next year we will be having the same conversations. Children are being let down in this city and it’s not good enough.

“I appreciate the problems the CCG (clinical commissioning group) is having but we have no transparency.

“We have long waits. What is being done to address this? This has been going on long enough and the children of this city are being let down.”

Gill Brooks, commissioner for children’s mental health at Brighton and Hove CCG, apologised and agreed this was not good enough.

Ben Glazebrook, service manager at the Young People’s Centre in Ship Street, said he knew young people were trying to get help but were being refused.

He said: “There is a young person referred last year in November, they were told they would have a wait of three month, then six months, then nine months.

“This was regularly updated and then in the last two weeks they attempted to take their own life and ended up in A&E.

“The fact they reached out in the first place was massive for them and they’ve been waiting a year

“It is frustrating for workers out there in the front line working on the ground. There is a absolute urgency to deal with the waiting times. It’s getting very, very serious.”

Youth council representative Josh Cliff asked how waiting times could be reduced.

Ms Brooks told him the answer was with more resources.

Councillors heard the key national target was to ensure 30 per cent of children and young people with a diagnosable mental health condition receive treatment by the end of each financial year.

In Brighton and Hove, 34 per cent or 1,469 have been treated in the 2018/19 period so far. The figure for 2017-18 was 17 per cent, or 750 out of 4,322.

Ms Brooks said: “There is an increase year on year and improved access to children’s mental health but there are still issues. You could argue 30 per cent is quite low but we have increased on that year on year.”

When it came to specialist CAMHS (children and adolescent mental health services) access, 92 per cent – 115 out of 124 – of young people in need received their first treatment within eight weeks between April and July. This compares with 100 per cent who had their first treatment within 18 weeks in 17/18 (before the waiting times target was reduced), a total of 57 young people.

Ms Brooks said there was increased access to children’s mental health but there are still issues.