Agenda item

A presentation relating to this item is attached and will be delivered to the Panel at the meeting.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson addressed the Panel. She informed them that she is the Secretary of the Radstock Youth Partnership and that she saw this issue as an important matter.

She explained that the Partnership had been awarded £20,000 in 2011 by the Council and that there was a high prevalent of issues in the area. She said that a local GP had estimated that 70% of 13 – 19 year olds in the area had some level of clinical depression.

She said that following a survey of young people in 2011 their requests for support and work in relation to education, healthy living, healthy eating and physical activities such as cycling and archery had been responded to.

She said that depression was like a cloud that can simply envelope young people and that she was aware that staff at Radstock College were concerned over the welfare of some students.

She stated that following a meeting of the trustees of the Partnership they would like to request that the remainder of the grant (£2,500) be devoted to the Secret Garden project. The project would be open to young people of all ages and seek to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

The Chair said she was unsure of the Panel’s role in relation to this request as they were not a decision making body, but that they could if inclined show their support for the request. She asked that the Panel discuss this further following the presentation.

Mandy Round and Sam Shrubsole, CAMHS Operational Service Managers gave a presentation to the Panel, a copy of which can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book and a summary is set out below.

Range of services

•  Community CAMH service providing specialist therapeutic work

•  Outreach service working flexibly to engage hard to reach young people and families

•  Crisis wraparound and intensive support– in and out of hours. Alternative to admission and facilitating early discharge from inpatient services

Additional benefits & strengths

•  Out of hours support

•  7 day a week service

•  Counselling service

•  Additional support to schools

•  Strong and effective multi agency partnerships and working

Dispelling the myths

·  Long waiting times

•  Referrals are screened on the day they are received

•  Emergency referrals are seen the same day and any urgent referrals are seen within 7 days following a telephone contact

·  Under resourced services

•  The service is fully resourced with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, no front line posts have been lost since 2010.

·  Terrible services

•  Staff are trained to a high standard and investment in training, development and maintaining professional standards is an ongoing commitment within the Trust

•  Feedback from children, young people and families is positive

Challenges

•  Number of young people requiring support increasing

•  Loss of early help, preventive services

•  Ensuring that increasing number of routine referrals does not further impact on waiting times

New developments

•  Introduction of direct access for 16 and 17 year olds

•  18-25 service for care leavers

•  Joint transition protocol between CAMHS and Adult Mental Health and monthly transition meetings held

•  Emotional resilience in school hubs

Councillor Nicholas Coombes asked if extra resources were available for the service what they would look to spend it on.

Sam Shrubsole replied that as the numbers of referrals were on the rise she would increase the workforce in preventative services.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked how many cases were referred to the service each month.

Sam Shrubsole replied that the service receives between 80 – 120 referrals a month.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked who was able to make a referral.

Sam Shrubsole replied that any professional person can, but it should be the person that can present the case in the best way. She added that most referrals are made by GP’s, but they can come from the School Nurse or Youth Workers.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked how the loss of early help services had affected the service.

Sam Shrubsole replied that the loss had coincided with the increase in referrals of children that were entering school for the first time. She added that she felt that the change to targeted youth services had also had an impact.

Councillor Sarah Bevan asked how 16 / 17 year olds were being made aware of the self-referral service.

Mandy Round replied that posters had been circulated at schools and doctors surgeries alongside credit card style contact details cards. She added that some visits had also taken place at some schools.

Councillor Michael Evans what were the current staff levels for the service and how much did it cost to run the service.

Mandy Round replied that the OSCA team has 12.8 FTE and the CAMHS team has 9.2 FTE. She added that the cost to run the service was around £500,000 per year.

Councillor Michael Evans commented that B&NES, Bristol & North Somerset were in the top 10 for young people admitted to hospital through alcohol and drug abuse. He asked if the service were involved in these types of cases.

Sam Shrubsole replied that they do assess young people who are admitted to the RUH and that they do work closely with Project 28.

The Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children & Youth, Councillor Dine Romero asked if they worked with any colleges or sixth forms.

Sam Shrubsole replied that they do work quite closely with Norton Radstock College and other further education establishments.

The Strategic Director for People and Communities commented that he believed that the Council receives a good service from the CAMHS team. He added that there had been an increase in Mental Health referrals, young people with emotional behavioural needs and distressed children about to start school.

The Chair asked if feedback were given to the person that makes the referral.

Mandy Round replied that most cases should be assessed within two weeks and that a response is written to the person that makes the referral.

The Chair asked for the Panels approval to the suggestion proposed by Councillor Jackson relating to the use of funds for the Secret Garden project.

The Panel agreed with the proposal.