The Child Minder

I overheard a conversation while shopping in Woolworths at lunchtime that both shocked me and saddened me.

More research on ADHD treatments. Something called neurofeedback can be effective, according to a study, but doesn't work for everyone and shouldn't be thought of as a replacement for drugs.

Researchers have found that the academic and behavioural problems associated with ADHD can be treated in children without using drugs.

So, the controversial mental health bill has finally completed its difficult journey. Although it has emerged in a better state than it began, it is still being described by mental health campaigners as a "missed opportunity" thanks to the government's failure to heed the warnings about the risks of significant over-use of community treatment orders and of giving excessive powers to clinicians.

Since at least 1999, we as a society have known that one in 10 children in England, Scotland and Wales aged 5 to 15 has a clinically recognisable mental disorder. Yet more then half of the 250 GPs questioned in a survey for Norwich Union Healthcare recently claim their local NHS mental health services are still poor or very poor, and nearly all of them believe not enough is being done by the NHS to help teenagers with mental health problems.

So what is going wrong? The latest official figures show a 19 per cent rise in spending on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services between 2004/5 and 2005/6, and an 11 per cent increase in staffing levels. However, this is a slower rate of growth than in the previous year, and must be seen in the context of a relatively low starting point. The result is that, last year, we set aside just £46 per child for their mental health needs. That is less than I spend on my gym membership each month.