THOUSANDS of children across north Essex who have been abused or neglected are being “sidelined” by mental health services.

The NSPCC is calling on NHS England to set out how it will prioritise the needs of vulnerable children and for more transparency over how mental health services commissioning decisions are made.

The children’s charity analysed the latest annual mental health plans published by NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The plans set out how they will care for children’s mental health and the NSPCC found across England, 82 per cent were not properly planning for the needs of vulnerable children.

In the East of England an estimated 182,213 children who have been abused or neglected are living in an area with inadequate plans for their mental health needs.

For the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, there are 3,729 children under 11-years-old and 5,307 children over 11-years-old in the same situation.

A spokesperson for the CCG said: “Ensuring our services meet the needs of all children and young people, especially vulnerable children and young people remains our priority in the transformation of the provision.”