Agenda item

Steve Buckerfield introduced the report of The Children, Young People and Mental Health (CYPMH) Task and Finish Group, which presented a series of recommendations, aimed at improving services for children and young people in the short to medium term.

The report also framed the discussion for the HWB around the development of a new long-term vision for how children and young people accessed support for mental illness across the borough.

In  addition, following concerns raised about inappropriate care and bed shortages nationally, a CAMHS Taskforce was looking at overhauling the way CAMHS are commissioned. It was expected that the Taskforce would report in Spring 2015.

The experience of users of local Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services had been captured in the report, through the mental health charity Rethink.

The Task and Finish Group had agreed to focus on the following three particular areas, where it was agreed that more could be done to improve the outcomes for children and young people:

·         Ensuring early intervention and prevention in relation to children and young peoples’ mental health and wellbeing

·         Reducing the impact of parental mental health disorders on children and young people

·         The transition from Children’s to Adult mental health services.

The report set out 12 recommendations.

Mr Buckerfield stated that the key messages were in respect of:

·         Access: location of services and how delivered.

·         A ‘Whole Family’ approach being adopted in adult mental services, .

·        Parental mental health and the potential impact of any mental health problems on the children for whom they are responsible.

Mr Buckerfield stated that the Rethink project had looked at the experiences of young people from Hammersmith & Fulham of mental health services in the borough, by means of focus groups and surveys, in person and on line. The research had identified a number of key issues.

There were concerns in respect of training for professionals who were not mental health professionals, for example social workers and GPs, and how this could be developed. Hammersmith & Fulham’s Looked After Children CAMHS service had collaborated with Rethink’s Co-production Project and devised a training package for front line staff.  Young people supported by Rethink had successfully delivered a pilot training package for social work staff, which had been well received.  It was intended to extend the training to all workers.

The research had found that young people wanted to raise their mental health concerns with professionals that they knew or were close to. This was particularly the case for ‘looked after’ young people.

Young people would like to self-refer, rather than through A&E and go to a safer place, isolated from A&E.

Co-production brought together young people with commissioners, to work together as equal partners in decision-making around planning, design and the review of mental health services. Champion facilitators and commissioners were trained and empowered to enable them to work effectively together to co-design services.

Members queried the pilot training, how this had been organised, how it could be rolled out, with a consistency of approach and for which other groups it would be relevant. Mr Buckerfield responded that the training had been organised by Rethink and CAMHS for West London Mental Health, but there had been no undertaking to take forward. The training would be relevant for any non-mental health professionals who worked with young people on a regular basis.

Members noted that whilst there were some good practices in respect of eating disorders across the three boroughs, a more co-ordinated approach was needed.

Dr Spicer commented that GPs did not see many young people comparatively, as a GP surgery was not a place where they felt comfortable.

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Mr Buckerfield acknowledged the contribution of the voluntary sector.

Members discussed the configuration of services going forward.

Mr Christie referred to the work with secondary heads groups and suggested the commissioning of these services for pastoral care. However, it was felt that, whilst schools could be used as a reference point, the work was not done in schools. A professional mental health worker was required to pick up the need for a conversation.

Members considered that: a full 24/7 hours service was needed; whilst there were a number of routes into the service, there should be a single reference point; ‘family’ should be defined and they should know where to get information and how they would be supported; and there should be a seamless service.

Mrs Bruce highlighted the need for improvement in transition from Children’s to Adult Mental Health Service and an all age/all disability service. There was a need to improve the whole life journey, and for complex health services to do the same.

Councillor MacMillan commended the establishment of a Taskforce to look at the whole area of CAMHS, and reporting to the HWB. Councillor De’ath was proposed as the Chair.

RESOLVED THAT:

1.      The HWB endorsed the recommendations outlined in the report.

2.      The HWB recommended the establishment of a councillor led Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce.

3.      The HWB recommended that the report of the Task and Finish Group be sent to the national Taskforce as evidence.