Doctors urge supports for children hit hardest by pandemic

Covid-19 coronavirus global pandemic 2020 / 2021 Level 5 lockdown public health protection measures.

Mental health, disability and pediatric services need to be “urgently scaled up” for disadvantaged children disproportionately affected by the knock-on effects of the pandemic.

That’s according to a new report compiled by public health doctors and pediatricians looking at how to address the impact of school closures on children experiencing marginalisation and homelessness.

Doctors at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) have called for the reopening of schools, in particular special schools, to be prioritised in light of the report.

“The Covid-19 crisis has exposed and amplified existing inequalities and risks of harm facing vulnerable children,” said Dr. Louise Kyne. 

This report underlines how important it is to consider these vulnerable children, particularly the special needs group. 

"It highlights the essential role of schools in providing not only education but in supporting a wide range of social, emotional, physical, developmental and mental health needs." 

School closures last March had several very serious knock-on effects for students, according to the report. Students with special educational needs, homeless children, children living in direct provision, and children in other marginalised groups were disproportionately affected. 

Many children were unable to attend vital health and social care services due to the pandemic, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work, psychology, clinical nutrition, audiology, public health nursing, dental, and educational support services. 

Educational gap widening

School-based hearing, vision, and dental checks were also affected by school closures, as was the Schools Immunisation Program. Food insecurity was also exacerbated by school closures. As well as this, "the educational gap between disadvantaged children and their peers will have widened due to school closures".

According to the RCPI, primary care services, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and disability services now need to be “urgently scaled up”. This would involve all services “working closely together.” Mental health services were already under pressure before the pandemic, the report notes, as many posts are unfilled while at the same time there was a 26% increase in referrals to CAMHS between 2012 and 2017.

The critical role of mental health, pediatric, social, and education services will be crucial in supporting young people facing the challenges of "estrangement and loneliness, parental unemployment and stressors, bereavement, social distancing", it found. 

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that specific funding be granted to school principals to support children in vulnerable groups. The report also recommends that a joint working group should be established to address children and family homelessness.