A worried dad fears his seven-year-old’s uncontrollable behavioural issues could lead to him harming others amid “unacceptable” waiting times for professional help.

Trevor McDonald, from Chatham, has been on a two-year waiting list at Snapdragons Children Centre to get his son Mathew seen.

The Rochester-based clinic offers behavioural specialist services to assess, plan and address issues in children and covers the whole of Medway.

Mathew has been on the waiting list since October 2022.

However, the health body behind the clinic says it has been inundated with an “extremely high number of referrals” leading to long waiting times.

It says it is working within the “absolute maximum” of its clinical ability — although it concedes current waiting times are “unacceptable”.

Meanwhile, Trevor says he is desperate to get him seen, calling his son angry, belligerent and disobedient.

The 65-year-old said: “He doesn’t do as he is told – he puts his finger up to me, tries to hit me and kicks me.

“It’s horrendous - the teachers call me over after school and tell me he is throwing chairs across the classroom.

“He’s putting his middle finger up to them and then raising his fist to other kids.

“How long is it going to be before he actually hits one of the children?”

For most of the time, when the father-of-three tries to contact Snapdragons, he says he just goes round in circles with phones ringing through, redirected to another department and emails being unanswered.

When he has gotten through he says he has been told there are more than 100 people in front of him on the waiting list, are assessing two children a week, and only seeing those on there from June 2022 at the centre now.

“If that’s the case, I’ve got another 50 weeks to wait – that’s a year. It’s ridiculous.

“But this isn’t just a case of my child, it’s all the other children waiting to be seen as well.

“The system is broken and it needs some intervention,” said Trevor.

Mathew’s school, New Horizons Academy in Chatham have also tried contacting Snapdragons but no action has been taken to assess him.

All teachers are able to do when he has an outburst it take him out of the class and put him in a calming area.

Trevor added: “Snapdragons is not fulfilling their duty and care - it’s a failure.

“If he is left now and he gets older, it’s going to get worse.

“If it doesn’t get corrected, he is going to turn into a dysfunctional teenager and then we’ll have all sorts of issues then.”

The dad says if “worst comes to worst” he will take Mathew, and his youngest, Tyler, five, out of school with packed lunches and sit in the Snapdragons waiting room until he is seen.

“It’s difficult but they’re my children and I will do whatever is necessary for them to be in the best situation they can be,” he added.

“It doesn’t matter about me, I come second and at the end of the day I’m just fighting for what is right for them.”

Snapdragons is run by the children’s team at Medway Community Healthcare (MCH).

Assistant director for children’s and planned services Tracey Web said: “We are sorry that Mr McDonald is unhappy with the wait for his child’s assessment.

“Like most children’s health providers across the country, we have been receiving an extremely high number of referrals, this is an unprecedented position for the whole country, leading to long waiting times that we know are unacceptable.

“While Mr McDonald’s child is already on the list, the wait time remains longer than we would prefer, and we are sorry.

“As a provider we can offer assurance that we are absolutely operating our services within the absolute maximum range of our commissioning and clinical ability, however this is still leading to waiting times that far exceed what we would wish for the children in our community.

“Across both Kent and Medway, there are a number of different groups working very hard to ensure that we are looking at every possible solution to the situation, and that would continue to offer safe services within the clinical guidance for children on these types of pathway.

“Please be assured that we are working hard with all the relevant providers and colleagues across Kent and Medway to ensure every child receives the care they need.

“However, there is always support available to every family waiting for their child to be seen. At MCH, we offer parent support sessions, and signpost families to many local and national groups and networks via our Holding Hands website page.

“We will follow up with Mr McDonald to ensure he is aware of the support available while he waits for his son to be assessed.”