Policy behind the services
There are a number of important organisations and documents which are working towards ensuring that children and young people with mental health problems get the services they need. You can find out more about them below:
National CAMHS Support Service (NCSS)
A national programme funded by the Government which has been set up to ensure that good emotional health and wellbeing services are commissioned and provided in all the English regions. The NCSS aims to improve the delivery of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and improve access to CAMHS. Each region has a CAMHS regional development worker (RDW) who works with local government, the NHS and other organisations to make sure that good CAMHS are developed and follow government policy.
For more information please click here
Children’s Trusts and Children and Young People’s plan
Children’s Trusts were set up by government to ensure that services in all local areas work together and jointly plan services. A number of different agencies are part of the Trust, for instance, the local authority, schools, GPS, local NHS, and charities.
Children and Young People Plans set out what help and support is needed in local areas. The Children’s Trust should be taking a lead role in this, by preparing and monitoring children and young people’s plans, which will set out how the children’s trust partners which include pcts, mental health trust, schools, and third sector organisations will cooperate to improve well being for local children and young people. The children and young people’s plans will ensure you and your family get a good quality service and the services you need are working together effectively. The plan should also include a duty to provide parents with accessible information about the services support and advice available to help them support their child up to their 20th birthday.
These plans will be available on the website of your primary care trust or local authority from 1st April 2011. Click to find your local PCT here
The Children’s Plan
The Children’s Plan was published by Government a few years ago. It sets out what the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will do over 10 years to help improve the lives of children, young people and their families.This document announced a review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to understand what progress has been made in delivering services to meet the needs of children and young people at risk of and experiencing mental health problems. The Review gave 20 recommendations, which Government should implement in order to improve CAMHS You can read the review here
Full Government Response to the CAMHS Review
Government published a document setting out what they will do to implement the 20 recommendations. A summary of this document can be found here.
National Advisory Council
As recommended by the review, the government established a National Advisory Council for Children’s Mental Health and Psychological Wellbeing to advise and hold Government to account for implementing the review’s recommendations. You can find out more about the council here
New Horizons
This set out what government want to see happen about promoting everybody’s mental health, and about improving mental health services for older teenagers and adults. It mainly focuses on adult mental health, but it does look at how mental health problems often have their roots in childhood and recognises how important it is to offer the right help as early as possible. It also looks at stigma and how the fear of it can stop people accessing help early on. It also looks at how to improve the transition from children’s mental health services to adult mental health services.
