The parents of a 10-year-old boy say they’re living in fear because doctors are treating their son’s suicide attempts as a “phase”.
Kirsty and Scott Solman have been forced to take turns sleeping amid concern their son Kyle will try to take his own life.
The schoolboy – who has autism and ADHD – has been in hospital three times since November after attempting to harm himself.
His most recent dash to A&E was on Monday. He was allowed home despite telling doctors : “I just don’t want to be here any more, I’ve had enough.”
Now the family, of Glasgow’s Drumchapel, have started a petition calling on the Scottish Government to do more for children with mental health issues.
Kirsty, 39, who is a nurse, said: “We still don’t have a care plan in place and Kyle has been in crisis since November.
“He told nurses and doctors at the hospital he didn’t want to be here any more. Surely, a 10-year-old saying that should be enough for them to realise he is in crisis.
“It is not treated as seriously as I feel it should be – and I don’t just mean for Kyle but for loads of other kids.
“If I get to raise these issues at Parliament I will go armed with these case studies, so I can say these are real people not just statistics.”
Kyle’s latest attempt to self-harm prompted health workers to get him an emergency appointment this week at the NHS’ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Kirsty believes this should have been done when he was first taken to the Royal Hospital for Children’s A&E last year.
She says he has been bullied, which has increased his anxiety levels.
Kirsty and Scott, 44, a fraud detection agent at Virgin, have now safeguarded their home to prevent Kyle hurting himself.
She said: “One of us is always awake. We watch him like a hawk so he doesn’t get the chance to do something. We are exhausted.
“CAMHS said they would give him ‘talking therapy’ via a Zoom call with a psychotherapist to help him develop an emotional toolkit.
“They did a mental health assessment on Kyle in January but we’re still waiting to see the report.”
Lib Dem leader Alex Cole- Hamilton said: “I stand with Kyle and his family in their quest for more support. We know to devastating costs what happens to all too many adults who seek help at times of crisis and are turned away.
“To learn this is now happening to children is a national outrage.”
A spokeswoman from City of Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said the pandemic has had “a huge impact on the mental health of patients”.
She added: “We are utilising funding provided from Scottish Government to increase the mental health services we can provide, and to help deal with any waits for access to services for children and young people as we recover from Covid-19.”
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