Issue - meetings

1.         

2.         

3.         

4.         

5.         

6.         

7.         

8.         

8.1.        The Board considered a report on the outcome of the joint targeted area inspection (JTAI)
of the multi-agency responses to children’s mental health in East Sussex.

8.2.        The Board asked how the delay in mental health CAMHS assessments could be reduced.

8.3.        Ruth Hollman, Director of CAMHS, agreed that people wait too long for diagnosis and that this has been going on a long time. The number of children or young people referred to specialist services such as CAMHS has also continued to increase recently. This means that the mental health pathway for children and young people needs continued investment at the earliest stages where parents and children are trying to access support and advice. This is a workstream of the ESHSCP and East Sussex has made considerable progress in this area already, both through the establishment of a  Single Point of Advice (SPOA) for people calling about child and young people mental health issues; and the iRock services in Hastings and Eastbourne that provide low level mental health support and signposting to other services than mental health, such as housing support, which may be the cause of distress in some people.

8.4.        Stuart Gallimore, Director of Children Services, added that the JTAI report speaks highly of the partnership arrangements and the innovations in place. SPOA had been in place for 6-8 months at time of the inspection and the report welcomes its ability to bring in support from the Council’s early help and health visiting services along with  SPFT’s CAMHS practitioners to ensure help is provided at the earliest possible time and avoids waiting for clinicians, except for those who need it.

8.5.        The Board RESOLVED to:

1) note the findings of the inspection into the multi-agency responses to children’s mental
health in East Sussex which was published 14 April (Appendix 1); and

2) note the multi-agency action plan which has been developed to address the areas for
development (Appendix 2).