Mental health and sleep were the major concerns of young people in Rutland and Leicestershire; a survey has found. 

The health board for the area carried out a consultation last year to find out what young people aged between 11 and 25 thought health bosses needed to do to improve their health and the findings were presented to the Rutland Health and Wellbeing Board last week (17th June). 

More than 3,000 people took part in the survey organised the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB) which used a range of methods such as podcasts, art projects and school visits to get feedback from as many different groups as possible with young carers, young parents, children with SEN and children in care included. 

The ICB's Children, Young People and Families Engagement Officer Jacob Brown gave a report of the findings to the board and said in general young people surveyed said they were having a positive experience of health care 'although their parents or carers were slightly less satisfied. 

He said: "Mental health was the major concern, and then sleep, which surprised us, as this was something that was really being flagged up. And for young carers loneliness became really quite high above their peers. 

"Regarding mental health those top concerns were around school stresses, social media, bullying, family breakdowns and there was a big barrier around a lack of awareness of the mental health service available. And this was something that parents were really highlighting. They kind of knew where to go when there was a physical problem, but they did not quite know where to go for mental health access and transitions into care." 

He also said there were issues with children who were transitioning from using children's health services to adults' health services." 

A number of young people surveyed said they did not always feel heard by health professionals and the health professionals said they needed better support including more understanding how to refer into mental health services outside of the NHS. 

Mr Brown said the next steps were a three-year plan to try and tackle some of the challenges raised. Stigma around vaccinations would be tackled and new health webinars had been launched for parents around sleep, using screens, asthma and mental health. 

He said the data had not been broken down into the geographical areas, but five per cent of those surveyed were from Rutland.