Agenda item

Joint Review of Emotional Wellbeing and CAMHS Services

To note the final version of the Southwark Joint Review of Emotional Wellbeing and CAMHS Services and to support the development of an implementation plan to take forward the actions identified in the review.

Minutes:

Genette Laws, Director of Commissioning and Caroline Gilmartin, Director of Integrated Commissioning introduced the report.

 

Following an in depth discussion amongst the board members and those in attendance the board partners set themselves a shared ambition to ensure that 100% of children and young people get access to emotional wellbeing or mental health services so that the need for specialist services is reduced and to ensure that those (and their families who must wait for specialist services are well supported) and that this ambition would be achieved by 2020.  In doing so the board members acknowledged that this could not be achieved just by focusing on targets for access but would also have to think holistically, not just about access to services but also how they could ensure that young people who are experiencing mental health problems, could have a much better experience of the system and how they could ensure that young people move on to become healthy adults and fulfil their life aspirations.

 

Issues that were mentioned/raised during the discussions were:

 

·  Opportunities for prevention

·  Look at how we screen and identify people more effectively earlier

·  Creating more opportunities outside of the specialised services that can support people much earlier to become healthier.

·  Need for the 100% ambition to be embedded in a comprehensive plan encompassing wellbeing, resilience building from primary schools, pre-pregnancy teaching and education for young parents.

·  Proper collaborative working through pool of stakeholders – must include public health and schools where there is universal access.

·  Some access targets should be delivered through practitioners working in the community, such as HIVE, good shop fronts in community settings designed by young people, responsive to their needs with a multiplicity of services within them, e.g. sexual health, substance misuse, mental health, occupational advice

·  Consultation with young people about what the barriers to access are

·  Children being taught emotional intelligence from an early age

·  ‘Ruler’(funded by CCG) - Teachers being trained on attachment theory and being able to really understand and recognise adverse childhood experiences, which enables schools to support children who are looked after who often come with complex behaviours.  Issue of expanding this to more schools.

·  Concern over levels of desperation that young people are feeling, having to wait to access CAMHS and the potential connection to self harm.

·  Need to think about older people in the community also experiencing mental health issues as part of the approach. 

·  Need to look at poverty and wider socio and economic determinates and how the system can help support families to end the multi generational cycle of poverty and multi generational cycles and transmission of ill health.

·  Need to encompass ‘place’ in the discussions as the built environment is critically important with work children and young people.

·  Policy around childhood obesity and nutrition and physical health – boundary between the psychological and the physical in children and young people is closely linked.

·  Contribution of the voluntary sector is key (example given of PACT in Camberwell).

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the final version of the Southwark Joint Review of Emotional Wellbeing and CAMHS Services (Appendix 1 of the report) be noted.

 

2.  That the development of an implementation plan to take forward the actions identified in the Review and subsequent reporting to the Board about progress be supported.

 

3.  That the engagement of key stakeholders in the conduct of the review including children, young people, parents and carers and the steps being taken to establish an Emotional Wellbeing and CAMHS reference group to ensure the ongoing voice of stakeholders in the implementation of the Review be noted.

 

4.  That the shared ambition to ensure 100% of Southwark children and young people get access to emotional wellbeing or mental health services so that the need (and waiting times) for specialist services is reduced and to ensure that children and young people (and their families) who must wait for specialist services are well supported be endorsed.  The Board’s ambition is to achieve this by 2020.

Supporting documents: