Agenda item
Report by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Scrutiny Task Group
Members of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee agreed that during 2016/17 they would set up a task group in order for scrutiny to evaluate Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS). The scrutiny task group has reviewed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to evaluate the existing model and its effectiveness in delivering services. Findings are presented in the report in Appendix A.
Minutes:
Councillor Shahzad introduced the report which evaluated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Brent and explored options on how the model could be adapted to better meet future needs. He informed the Committee that the paper had been informed by quantitative data and interviews with National Health Service and health providers, Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), school and education representatives and community representatives. The Committee heard that the Task Group had agreed five recommendations – four for the Brent CCG and one jointly for the CCG and Brent Council (page 50 to the Agenda pack). Hamza King (former member of Brent Youth Parliament) spoke about his role in the Task Group and highlighted the importance of including the perspective of young people in the Borough in the work of the Group. He said that he was pleased progress had been made towards clarity and tackling issues effectively. Duncan Ambrose (Assistant Director at Brent CCG) commented that the process had been in-depth and fair and he said that Brent CCG endorsed the recommendations of the report and an event related to the fifth recommendation might be held in October 2017. Gail Tolley (the Council’s Strategic Director of Children and Young People) acknowledged that such an event (modelled on It’s Time to Talk) was helpful, but warned the Committee that half term needed to be avoided to ensure the involvement of schools and other partners. In relation to the other recommendations, Ms Tolley said that there was not a direct role for the Council as it used to have as the majority of schools were self-governing so a direct contact between the schools and Brent CCG had to be established. Moreover, Councillor Mili Patel (Cabinet Member for Children and Young People) thanked the Group for their work and suggested that the fourth recommendation related to establishing a network of community champions) could be integrated to the fifth one and Sarah Basham (Vice Chair and Co-Clinical Director at Brent CCG) added that ideas from a recent event held in North West London could be implemented in the It’s Time to Talk-modelled event.
Members asked questions that related to taking steps to ensure that the recommendations presented in the report were adhered to, using the proposed additional funding to create capacity and CAMHS’ ability to take on additional referrals. Mr Ambrose said that waiting times had been reduced and the number of people on waiting lists had been halved. He noted that changes were about to be implemented and results would be visible soon. In addition, Ms Basham said that the Anna Freud model would be adopted and more prevention work would be undertaken to reduce the need for children to access CAMHS.
RESOLVED that:
(i) The contents of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Brent Scrutiny Task Group Report be noted;
(ii) The following recommendations be endorsed:
a. Brent Clinical Commissioning Group
1. Increase investment in mental health support with Brent’s schools to ensure all schools can access Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS), Place2Be or an equivalent mental health support programme for schoolchildren.
2. Improve pathways to young people receiving CAMHS support by emphasising to head teachers that they can refer directly to CAMHS and increasing the CCG’s information and communication to schools about what support is available.
3. Offer a programme of peer and staff support in schools and further education to strengthen awareness of emotional health and wellbeing and signpost them to effective support.
4. Organise a network of community champions to promote good mental health and wellbeing among children and young people in their community and signpost young people to effective support.
b. Brent Clinical Commissioning Group and Brent Council
5. Organise a one-off event for parents modelled on It’s Time to Talk to develop community-led solutions to improving children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health in Brent, and strengthen partnership working between the CCG, local authority, schools, voluntary sector, faith and community groups, youth organisations, and further education colleges on this issue.
(iii)An update on CAMHS provision in Brent be provided at a future meeting of the Committee.
Supporting documents:
- 8. Report by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Scrutiny Task Group, item 8. PDF 93 KB
- 8a. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Brent, item 8. PDF 269 KB