Agenda item

The Director of Children, Young People and Learning presented a report providing an update on the work taking place to review each tier of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the work that was taking place to prepare for the re-commissioning of the service from April 2015.

The multi-agency review of CAMHS was progressing well against a changing national landscape and a joint CAHMS Action Plan would be developed to take the emerging recommendations forward.  The recently published NHS Planning Guidance 2015/16 had placed an increased emphasis on achieving parity for mental health including CAHMS provision.  It had therefore been agreed that work on the action plan’s development would be delayed to enable the full implications of this guidance to be clarified.  Notwithstanding this delay, work was progressing inside all agencies to improve CAHMS provision.

The Public Health Team was working to develop an online resource to provide help and guidance to young people.  The service had been match funded by the Clinical Commissioning Group and a twelve month contract had been entered into with a specialised provider.  The service would commence on 1 April 2015 and it was hoped that this resource would not only provide young people with an opportunity to access help and advice at an early stage before more intensive interventions might be required but also act as an on-going step down support service for those children and young people reaching the end of treatment programmes.

It was recognised that there was a stigma attached to accessing mental health diagnostic services and that the online resource should help to address this. It had been acknowledged that schools would be central to the success of the online resource and the service provider would be working closely with schools to raise awareness of the resource and help train staff to recognise those children and young people who might be at risk and those young people who could be considered to be ‘Quiet at risk’ i.e. those who struggled to cope but just got on with things in particular.

The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had used funding received through the Winter Operational Resilience Fund to improve the interface between Tiers 2 and 3 and early intervention services.  Work was also taking place to raise awareness amongst schools and GPs of the help available.

It was recognised that for many young people the transition from Children’s Services to Adult Services could be an issue, with adult services requiring different thresholds for intervention and in CAMHS for example some specialist services not being provided at all in the adult health sector.  To combat this work was being started to transform the transition between the two areas into a continuous on-going process.

It was also noted that the transfer of commissioning responsibility for 0 – 5 year-olds public health services (health visitors and Family Nurse Partnerships) into local councils in October, alongside the existing 5 – 19 services, would give further opportunities over time to create more continuity.

Arising from the Board’s questions and comments the following points were noted;

·         It was requested that schools be asked to provide anonymised feedback on the work that they were doing to support young people and the impact that this work was having on their students’ life and performance at school

·         Services were already being provided out of the Berkshire Adolescent Unit in Wokingham.  However the transformation of the unit to a Tier 4 provider had been included in the service specification for the new financial year with implementation expected during quarter 2

·         The additional funding used by the CCG to reduce waiting times had enabled the backlog of urgent cases to be dealt with and further work was taking place with Tier 2 providers to reduce waiting times for the non-urgent cases

·         A list of named contacts in schools which GPs could use to discuss specific cases would be available by 11 March 2015

·         The imminent transfer of responsibility for the care of 0-5 year olds from the NHS to local authorities would provide the Borough with the opportunity to develop the support given in the area of post natal mental health

·         It was requested that future update reports include specific dates and deadlines for the completion or delivery of work packages

RESOLVED that:

      i.        The latest national guidance and response to the local review of CAMHS be noted

     ii.        The commissioning plans and arrangements for children and young people at each tier be noted

    iii.        The renewed emphasis on early intervention and prevention especially at Tier 2 and the expected impact of this work on higher levels of support be endorsed

   iv.        The changes that are being made to improve provision at Tier 4 in Berkshire be noted.

    v.        The planned review of the workforce training and support needs for improved transition between CAMHS and Adult Mental Health Services be endorsed

   vi.        The work to review the workforce training and development needs for better identification of post natal mental health issues, to receive swift and early help, and to better understand the reasons why women do not take up the provision of Adult Mental Health Services for pregnant women and for the first year after birth be endorsed

  vii.        A joint CAMHS action plan for all tiers of support be developed and to be brought to the Board’s June meeting