Mental health support for children and young people across West Yorkshire and Harrogate heading in the right direction

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership’s ambition to support more children and young people with mental health problems closer to home is heading in the right direction, according to latest figures. However more needs to be done for children and young people backed with long term investment say mental health professionals.

Thanks to closer working relationships between South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust; Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust and Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and the introduction in April 2018 of the New Care Model (national pilot) for children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) progress is being made.

Evidence shows that care provided closer to home has better health outcomes than most hospital admissions and is importantly better for families and carers – reducing travel time and unnecessary anxiety.

Thea Stein, CEO for Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, who’s organisation leads the work for new care models for the Partnership said: “Latest Partnership information shows that by adopting a shared approach across West Yorkshire and Harrogate the number and length of hospital bed days for children and young people across the area has reduced in the last six months from 708 occupied days in April 2018 to 536 in September 2018. The money saved means we commit funding to organisations across the area for £500k worth of investment in community services – ensuring more children and young people are cared for closer to home. Albeit this is progress, we know much more needs to be done to support children, young people and their families. We will continue to build on this progress for as long as needed”.

Through the introduction of the new care navigator role twenty one children and young people were also supported locally in the last six months without hospital admission.

However, children and mental health services remain poor in terms of assessment waiting times and providing timely access and meeting increasing demand. More must be done.

Working in partnership with other organisations, including the police, local authorities and community organisations is critical to further improving care for children and young people in communities. You can see a good example of this in the work of Bradford’s safer spaces for children and young people in mental health crisis. This provides an alternative to hospital bed days whilst reducing unnecessary A&E attendance. It has the potential to be rolled out across other Partnership areas.

The Partnership’s work is also supported by a £13m capital investment from NHS England to build a new Children and Adolescent Mental Health Unit in Leeds. Led by Leeds Community Health Care NHS Trust on behalf of the Partnership, the new purpose built specialist CAMHS unit is due to be completed in the next 2 years. It will support young people suffering complex mental illness. Importantly this means they will receive care locally if and when they need specialist hospital care.  There are currently eight general adolescent beds for patients across West Yorkshire which are provided by Leeds Community NHS Healthcare Trust in Leeds. This new unit will bring a significant increase in capacity and provide 18 specialist places and four psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds. These ‘extra’ beds are in part due to reallocating hospital beds across the country so that young people get specialised inpatient care nearer to where they live.

Dr Sara Munro, Chief Executive of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Mental Health CEO Lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership said: “Whilst figures show there is a move in the right direction – we’re not there yet – there is much more to do. Even one child or young person receiving specialist care outside their local area or waiting too long for an assessment is not good enough.

Working together as part of the Partnership and through the New Care Model pilot has given us the opportunity to share good practice whilst reducing variation in the services available to children and young people mental health. Working in this way means we can invest more in community services ensuring we have effective crisis services as close to children and young people’s home as possible”.

Anne Worrall-Davies, Clinical Lead, West Yorkshire for New Care Models CAMHS said:  “We have been working hard to connect CAMHs teams across the area, sharing good practice and working together to address the issues that can  prevent  children and young people being treated in the community – which we know is the best approach and what everyone wants. Addressing this is a priority for us all”.

Rob Webster, CEO Lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Partnership and CEO for South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust said: “It’s reassuring that the national long term plan includes children and young people’s mental health as a priority. Real and sustainable improvement will need staffing and long term funding. I am delighted at the progress we are already making through new care models. These alone won’t meet the demand we face – we need continual investment, especially if we are to help children and young people sooner rather than later so they have better health and wellbeing as adults. They deserve nothing less”.