Agenda item

To receive an update on the work to transform the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

Louise Noble, Interim Head of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), presented a report providing an update on the work taking place to  improve the service.

In 2014/15, the number of referrals to CAMHS had continued to rise with an 5.6% increase in referrals across the East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group area.  Data showed that 100% of the initial referrals were triaged for clinical urgency within 24 hours of a referral being made and of the 579 young people in Bracknell Forest waiting for an initial assessment the majority received a face to face assessment within twelve weeks of their being referred. In Bracknell Forest, the longest waiting lists were for those young people requiring an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessment with 141 young people in Bracknell Forest waiting for longer than 12 weeks for an assessment. 

Additional funding had been given to CAMHS to enable additional staff to be employed.  These new members of staff had now been through the required induction and training programme and were now starting to take on their own caseloads.  It was anticipated that the number of young people waiting over twelve weeks for an assessment would have reduced significantly by the end of the current financial year.

CAMHS had been working with Kooth to improve the referral process and the interface between the two services.  It had now been agreed that CAHMS would refer young people directly to Kooth rather than signposting them to the service.  The CAMHS waiting lists had been reviewed and all young people currently waiting for CAHMS support had been contacted and given the option of receiving additional support from Kooth whilst they waited. 

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         In addition to counselling, CAMHS also offered a range of additional support through workshops targeting specific concerns for example anxiety

·         60% of those being referred to CAMHS were too young to access Kooth’s services and it was essential that appropriate support was available to this group

·         The wider CAMHS Transformation Plan would be circulated to the Board for information

·         The ADHD pathways were heavily reliant on receiving information from other agencies and delays in this information exchange was impacting on waiting times

·         Differing opinions from GPs and schools over whether a referral to CAMHS was necessary did have an impact on waiting times

·         It was agreed that data relating to the number of children and young people waiting for longer than six and twelve months would be included in the next update

·         The cases of all those on the ASD Pathway had been reviewed to ascertain whether the pathway was this diagnostic pathway was the most appropriate way forward for the young person

·         An internet search for ‘Young people mental health’ directed the searcher to the CAMHS web pages.  This was not always the most appropriate initial pathway for many young people and it was suggested that links could be added to the web page directing young people and their families to alternative sources of advice and support for example Youthline and Kooth.  It was agreed that the Public Health Team would liaise with CAMHS to take this piece of work forward.

The Board thanked Louise Noble for her update.