ABSTRACT
Health visitors and general practitioners are usually the first port of call for parents who are worried about their child’s health. However, child mental health problems cannot be solved within the duration of an appointment that a busy GP can offer, while referral to a specialist child mental health service may be more than a parent wants, the child needs, or those services can adequately respond to. Some 80% of children with mental health problems do not reach the specialist services, and neither of the primary nor secondary services presently responds comprehensively to the needs of young children and their parents.
