Dr Ranj Singh: ‘I’ve seen first hand what lockdowns have done to our children’s mental health’
Like many TV doctors, Dr Ranj Singh – one of the resident doctors on ITV’s This Morning and presenter of CBeebies show Get Well Soon – took his skills where they were needed most in the past year, and upped his hours with the NHS. Working on A&E and intensive care at hospitals in London, the paediatrician soon saw how the pandemic was changing the type of patients coming through the hospital doors. On the whole, he says, fewer children were coming to A&E, but there was another, less positive, trend.
“Kids are under-affected by Covid, and combined with the fact that people generally were staying at home, the number of patients coming to paediatrics went down,” says Singh. “But one thing we did see, relatively consistently, was more young people, usually in their teens, struggling with their mental health. These were teenagers in crisis – they had got to the end of the line where they couldn’t get access to the care they needed, and their mental health had rapidly and dramatically suffered. It was really scary, because we knew we were only going to see more of this, with all these young people at home not getting the support they needed.”
Singh is in no doubt that lockdowns and school closures were necessary, and says the current events in India are proof of what could have happened otherwise. But he fears that the extraordinary events of the last year, and the shutdown of health services, has accelerated a crisis in mental health, which will have profound consequences for us all without a significant increase in resources.
“We’re going to see the hangover effect of all those mental health difficulties that started and worsened during lockdown,” he says. “We’re seeing a rise in anxiety, eating disorders, self harm.
“It’s all very well us saying to children to speak to a grown up if they’re in trouble, [but only] if the services are there to pick them up. But the waiting lists are now massive. I’m hearing it time and time again from parents – our child is in need, but we can’t get to the place of help.
“Fifty per cent of all mental health problems start to surface by the age of 14, but there isn’t any of the early intervention that we need. If we don’t do something now we’ll have a far bigger job down the line.”
Singh has been heartened by recent announcements of investment in mental health, and initiatives such as the appointment of Dr Alex George as youth mental health ambassador, and hopes that this time real change is coming. “Kids have never been the priority, and I think we need to start putting them first.” He says there is a vital need for better, faster access to mental health services and talking therapies, and believes every school should have a dedicated counsellor.
Singh feels passionately that in the social media age, children deserve to be well informed – his Bafta-winning TV series Get Well Soon offers cheerful advice and information for kids on ailments from head lice to wobbly teeth to allergies, with puppets and catchy songs, and his book for boys, How To Grow Up And Feel Amazing, has just been published. Tackling everything from puberty to porn, loneliness to gangs, Singh also offers up reflections on his own experiences of growing up, including having low body confidence and discovering his sexuality, with admirable honesty.
“Traditionally speaking, boys never get permission to speak about their feelings and be vulnerable. They’re the ones who are expected to be OK and be leaders. Part of the reason we have an unacceptably high suicide rate among young men is because they’re not allowed to cry and to talk. I finished the book just as the pandemic was hitting, and given what young people have gone through over the past year or so, there’s never been a greater need for a helping hand.”
Singh has used his platforms to expose myths and misinformation about the virus, including anti-vaxx conspiracy theories, which he says parents are particularly vulnerable to. As trials of Covid vaccines on children continue – last week Canada became the first country to approve the Pfizer jab for 12 to 15-year-olds – he expects more fake news and more resulting anxiety among parents, but says children’s vaccination may well prove to be necessary.
“Children might not be a high risk, but the people around them may be, like older members of the family. It’s not only about protecting the vaccinated group. Kids tend to congregate in larger groups when stuff gets back to normal, and that might become a factor.”
He adds that vulnerable children with conditions such as cancer, immune deficiencies or chronic lung disease, have been unable to return to school because their peers are unvaccinated. “Nobody’s talking about the children who are shielding. I hear from so many parents of children who are clinically vulnerable and cannot get back to normal life. We need to make the world safe for them, too.”
Like the rest of the country, Singh is desperate to ensure the roadmap from lockdown is a one way street. “We may get to a stage where we have to vaccinate children to keep everyone safe. We know how contagious it is, and nobody wants to go back to lockdown. It is harmful for so many people in so many ways – especially kids.”
How To Grow Up And Feel Amazing: The No Worries Guide for Boys by Dr Ranj Singh is out now (Wren & Rook). To order your copy for £9.99, call 0844 851 1514 or visit the Telegraph Bookshop
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from May 10 to 16 – for information and support, go to mentalhealth.org.uk
