BETWEEN three and four pupils in every secondary school classroom in Bradford are likely to have a diagnosable mental health issue, according to a new report.

The issue of young people’s mental health will be discussed when Bradford Council holds a joint meeting of its children’s services scrutiny committee and its health and social care scrutiny committee on Thursday.

Last year a partnership of local clinical commissioning groups were allocated £1.1 million each year until 2020 to improve young people’s mental health services in Bradford and the surrounding areas.

Councillors will be updated on the progress of this work at the meeting, including details on the length of time it takes for children to meet with a mental health specialist.

The report estimates that there are around 8,500 children aged between five and 15 with diagnosable mental health disorders in Bradford.

It said this equated to between two and three children in each secondary school class.

EDITOR'S COMMENT: Mental health of children is a crucial concern​

However, this figure could rise to up to 17,000 if lower level emotional or behavioural difficulties are taken into account.

The report says: “Bradford has a number of factors associated with increased risk of emotional or mental health difficulties. The most significant of these is the high number of children living in poverty and disadvantaged circumstances.”

With an increasing young population, the district could have 23,600 children with “some level of emotional or mental health difficulty” by 2025.

The groups where children are most vulnerable to having mental health problems include children with learning difficulties and disabilities, refugee and asylum seekers, children in council care and young people in the criminal justice system.

The committees will also hear about the waiting times young people face to see the child and adolescent mental health service.

In the 2015/16 academic year, 127 young people met with the service. Of those, 103 faced a waiting time of up to five weeks, while 24 had to wait six to ten weeks.

A first response service provides emergency care to people of all ages, including children, within 24 hours.

The crisis care service was recently awarded a national Positive Practice Awards.

Councillor Jeannette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council, asked about the waiting times at a full council meeting last week.

She said the amount of young people with mental health problems “painted a worrying picture” and said it was important that people treated mental health as seriously as physical health.

"You wouldn’t wait five to six weeks to be treated for a broken leg," she added.

The meeting will be held at 4.30pm on Thursday in the Hockney Room at Margaret McMillan Tower in Bradford city centre.

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