To receive a presentation from Elaine Egan Morriss, CAMHS Lead Commissioner and Children and Young People Whole System Transformation Lead.

A copy of the Highlight Report is attached.

A presentation (appended to the minutes) was received from Janette Harrison, Designated Nurse, Children and Adult Safeguarding, LLR Safeguarding Team, and Elaine Egan-Morriss, CAMHS Lead Commissioner and Children and Young People Whole System Transformation Lead.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The provider network met monthly to discuss new initiatives, partnership working and ultimately what ‘good’ looked like in terms of mental health and wellbeing for children and wellbeing.

·         Access to services had been improved by having robust triage and navigation. LPT had made great progress in reducing assessment waits.

·         In Quarter 3 there were 522 new registrations across LLR for the Kooth online counselling service of which 47 were Rutland service users.

·         Since October 2019 no children waited more than a year to receive treatment and although this was still not good enough it was an improvement.

·         Work was underway to develop a new neurodevelopmental pathway which would be a system wide, extensive piece of work to encompass the number of different assessments children had to have.

·         A new long term plan to treat eating disorders was being developed which would look at additional resources so that support could be given over a longer period of time and also so that more preventative work could be done.

·         As part of a national pilot project CAMHS would be investigating how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the system by looking at the ways of working, the organisational culture and how staff planned, worked and delivered services. If better systems were in place it could mean more people being seen and a subsequent reduction in the waiting list.

·         From April, GPs and all stakeholders including those who self-referred would be able to refer directly to the triage and navigation service.

·         By September 2020 there would be mental health support teams in school to help with the early identification of need. 

·         CAMHS staff visited parent forums to take on board their views as they understood that there were some parents who were very anxious about their children having a mental health issue.

·         A crisis café operated for young people and their parents so that parents could get help taking the right approach to support their child.

·         Dr Fox queried how long the majority of children were waiting once they had been assessed and whether it was more towards the end of the ‘within a year’ limit. Nationally the target was 4 weeks but locally the service was a long way off from this. Elaine Egan-Morriss CAMHS Lead Commissioner and Children and Young People Whole System Transformation Lead, confirmed that she would supply the Committee with the specific Rutland data on waiting times.

·         Mental health support teams would be attached to the early intervention services so that the service could continue over the school holiday period and could work within the home to include parents.

·         Councillor Walters asked how soon children and young people were seen who presented at A&E with a mental health issue.

·         The target time to see those children who presented at A&E was within two hours. When patients were discharged they would be referred to crisis in home treatment. As an additional safety net, all children would be followed up within seven days of going home to see if they needed any immediate additional support.

·         Success was measured by collecting routine outcome measures. Clinical indicators such as level of depression and anxiety were measured along with evidence from schools such as better behaviour and a reduction in truancy.

ACTION:

Elaine Egan-Morriss CAMHS Lead Commissioner and Children and Young People Whole System Transformation Lead to supply the Committee with the specific Rutland data on waiting times from assessment to receiving treatment.