Agenda item

For the Committee to receive a report detailing the current position of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services provided by Oxford Health Foundation Trust in Buckinghamshire as well as an update on key areas of challenge and opportunities for change and improvement

Contributors:

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services & Education

Andy Fitton, Head of CAMHs and ED services for Buckinghamshire

Dr Joe Clacey, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist/ Medical Lead for Bucks CAMHs

Papers: Committee Report

The Chairman welcomed Andy Fitton, Head of CAMHS and ED Services for Buckinghamshire and Dr Joe Clacey, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Medical Lead for Bucks CAMHS, to the meeting.

Andy Fitton noted that the purpose of the report was to assure the committee of the services provided by CAMHS by Oxford Health for children and their families. The report outlined the areas and the performance of each, noting benchmarking against other areas.  The report also detailed the areas for development and challenges going forward.

The delivery performance information contained in the report was noted to be somewhat limited, due to the Trust having been subject of a cyber attack last year. This report was focussed on the mental health support.

There had been an increase in requests for referrals of 27% with an increase in the presentation of complexity of needs. The services aimed to increase their provision.  Key areas were:

·       To make recruitment and retention as good as it could be

·       To focus on the support of the most vulnerable young people e.g. eating disorder needs

·       Building strong relationships with partners and collaborate further to support families

Dr Joe Clacy noted three clinical areas needing support -

·       Awareness of neurodevelopmental need requiring regional and national work

·       A continuing increase in demand in mental health services from the pandemic e.g. eating disorders

·       An increased demand of young people with increased complexity of mental health need

In response to questions from Councillors the following points were noted:

·       Prevention work was delivered via a national programme of mental health support teams assigned to schools, working with issues such as anxiety. Training was provided for colleagues in schools and on mental health practice. Consultation work was provided to schools and mental health colleagues before referrals to ensure the correct referrals for each individual were made Identification and awareness of needs had improved over the last decade and therefore earlier help had improved with more lower level interventions. There was a multi-agency approach to prevention to assess how best to help young people.

·       Increased funding had been given to Buckinghamshire which allowed for the increase in mental health support teams. This in turn helped to address the increase in the number of referrals.

·       A 3 year national NHS Thames Valley Link Programme was in place to look at additional support for young people with complex needs. There was a well-established team for looked after or adopted children which would be combined with work for young people who did not fit well in other defined areas. Work was underway across the service to ensure better outcomes for young people.

·       Following the success of the hospital support worker role in Stoke Mandeville Hospital during crisis presentation an additional role would be created to cover additional hours within the same hospital.

·       Three year funding had been received from the ICB to reduce waiting lists and work on this was part of the SEND development plan. The funding would lead to more therapies provided centrally.

·       A major challenge was to find the staff to support the work.

·       Work was underway with the charity “Barnados” and also with Bucks MIND to support work and their help was invaluable.

·       The Children’s Services and CMH Management Teams were meeting to look at how to best develop services together.

The Chairman thanked Mr Fitton and Dr Clacey for their attendance and presenting the update on Buckinghamshire CAMHS.