The report of the Joint Mental Health Commissioner NHS  (Document “P”) provides an update on progress to improve mental health support for children and young people since the last report in February 2020.

The Panel is asked to note the outcomes of the system wide review and subsequent work undertaken to improve mental health support in Bradford.

Recommendation

The panel is asked to note the action plan, highlight areas for consideration and attention and  support the System Review currently underway.

                                                                                    (Sasha Bhat - 01274 737537)

The report of the Joint Mental Health Commissioner NHS  (Document “P”) provided an update on progress to improve mental health support for children and young people since the last report in February 2020.

The Panel was asked to note the outcomes of the system wide review and subsequent work undertaken to improve mental health support in Bradford.

The Joint Mental Health Commissioner NHS summarised the main points of the report.

The Children and Families Portfolio Holder expressed concern that young people’s mental health provision in the district was too fragmented in terms of partners and providers and stressed the importance of early intervention which was crucial to achieve successful outcomes for young people.  He emphasised  that a significant amount of work was required.  He was concerned about the impact on the mental health of young people of the Covid19 pandemic and referred to young people being out of school and facing challenges in their families.  He emphasised the need to take control of the issue of young people’s mental health and move forward stressing that early intervention was the key to preventing more complex issues over time and investing to save in the future.

In response the Joint Mental Health Commissioner NHS noted that support for young people’s mental health was provided by a number of services such as Children’s Social Care, CAMHS, schools and hospitals that were all working better together to provide support for young people.

Answers were given to members questions as follows:

·         A multi pronged approach had been adopted to reach children during the Covid19 pandemic such as bulletins from the Deputy Director of Education’s team, through Trailblazers and getting information out into communities.

·         It was highlighted that at £48 the spend per head in the district for children and young people’s mental health was significantly below the national average of £59.  In response it was noted that the Health and Wellbeing Board had identified that spend on children and young people’s mental health was £1.8 short of what it should be and were looking at how the money was being released into the system to ensure that it was coming to children and young people’s mental health services.

·         None of the BAME young people asked said home would be the best place to receive support with their mental health and this may be to do with stigma around mental health, that they lived in households where privacy and accessing appropriate support tools was difficult.  Looking to provide more support and working within the council and care trust to ensure that the ethnicity of staff was more reflective of communities.

·         The issue that 72% of parents responded that accessing support in a mental health crisis was very difficult or difficult needed to be addressed urgently.

·         There was a work stream looking into the figure that 32% of appointments were being cancelled by Bradford District Care Trust and whether referrals were being made to the right service.

·         Feedback received from parents and young people had identified that because early intervention  was not in place they were not being seen in the right part of the service.  A script of questions to be asked before a first appointment, was being devised in consultation with parents and young people.  It would include such things as how they would travel to the appointment and whether there was anything that could be put in place to make the appointment accessible for them.

·         With the introduction of the One Trusted pathway a multi disciplinary team would be in place to guide children and young people to the correct service.  It would allow for an understanding of what support they needed and who should provide it.  It was stressed that services should be wrapping around a child or young person rather than leaving them to navigate their way through the services.

Resolved –

(1)          The Panel noted the action plan, highlighted areas for consideration and attention and supported the System Review currently underway.

(2)          That a further report be presented to the Panel in 6 months specifically looking at pathways and referrals and identifying obstacles that had resulted in missed appointments in the light of the cost of such missed appointments.

ACTION: Joint Mental Health Commissioner NHS