There was a clear consensus across all groups and individuals participating in the evaluation that there has been improved access across all age groups.
There was a consistently high perception that improvements in access have been most marked for children with more common mental health problems, for whom few, if any, public mental health services were previously available.
Despite these improvements in access, stakeholders and interviewees also noted that children and older people remain relatively disadvantaged in access to mental health services, as discussed in the following sections.