Universities are in the shadow of students' mental health needs

The law requires universities to meet the mental health needs of their students, said a former health minister.

The information gathered by Sir Norman Lamb's office reveals a "complex and fragmented" picture of the supply of mental health care in British universities.

Among the 110 responding universities, many said they did not record all relevant key statistics, such as their budgets or waiting times.

The universities said that they could not only deal with the mental health problem.

They added that they were already working on a voluntary mental health charter.

This occurs at the opening of a suicide investigation of a 19-year-old student.

• Parents should be informed about students' mental health

• New system to identify students in difficulty

• Graduates need mental health support

Ceara Thacker, a native of Bradford, committed suicide in May 2018 while she was studying at the University of Liverpool after her mental health had deteriorated.

She had struggled with this earlier in her adolescence and had attempted suicide in February before her death.

& # 39; In the fog & # 39;

As a mental health advocate, Sir Norman obtained information from 110 universities, under freedom of information laws, on their students' demand for mental health support and investment in this support. .

Responses revealed that many universities did not control whether services were being used well or meeting the needs of students.

And while some, such as Bristol, Kingston, and Sussex, spend more than a million pounds a year for wellness services, including consulting services, others have more money. a budget less than half.

Many did not even know how much money they were spending on mental health and only a handful of universities could provide information on how long students wait for advice.

For the few who did, the longest wait was, on average, 43 days – more than half the duration of a standard university term.

Sir Norman commended some universities, notably Cambridge and Northumbria, for taking their responsibilities seriously, but said that many others were not doing enough to gauge the scale of the problem.

"If we operate in the fog, if we have no idea of ​​the time students are waiting for, it puts students at risk," he added.

"We know from the data that the longest waiting times could be more than half a session for some students.

"We also know that there have been tragedies among some student populations – students who have committed suicide.

"If this happens while they're waiting for support, it's totally intolerable."

Duty of attention

"These are young people of vulnerable age, many of them are living outside of their homes for the first time, some of them may be going out of their way, or finding themselves in a desperate situation and committing suicide."

He pointed out that students who pay high fees have every reason to expect their universities to assume a duty of care.

It calls for a legally binding charter with minimum standards that universities must meet, so that parents know that their adult children will be safe.

A spokesman for Universities UK said: "Funding to support mental health services in universities will vary according to the needs of each student population.

"Universities can not meet these challenges alone.

"The NHS must provide effective mental health care to students, and Universities UK is working closely with NHS England to ensure implementation of the commitments made in the NHS long-term plan."