Agenda item

Since the last meeting, a lot of work had been undertaken to develop the Thrive model in Hillingdon, with increasing engagement from educational establishments.  In the last year, there had been a 14% increase in the number of children and young people accessing mental health services.  It was suggested that social media could have contributed to an increase in the number of children and young people experiencing mental health issues.

Hillingdon Link provided a face to face counselling service for young people.  To complement the work of Link, Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) would be piloting an online counselling, support and advice service for 11-19 year olds.  The pilot would include 16 to 19 year old residents that attended Uxbridge College. 

Multi disciplinary seminars had been scheduled to provide support to schools and opportunities to deal with the growing number of issues they face.  Progress had also been made in relation to the support and treatment of the most vulnerable children and young people, as well as those in crisis, through the introduction of services such as Community Eating Disorder, Crisis and Liaison Service and the remodelling of specialist CAMHS community capacity.  Although the target to provide two interventions for 85% of referrals in 18 weeks had been met in November and December 2017, the 14% increase in referrals had made this achievement challenging.  The savings generated from the Eating Disorder and Out of Hours services would be reinvested in the North West London footprint. 

It was recognised that the preventative emphasis of the work being undertaken was starting to generate tangible improvements but there were still concerns in relation to sustainability.  It was questioned how easy it was for residents to gain support at an early stage before deterioration into crisis.  Healthwatch Hillingdon had been a useful critical friend in raising this issue and it was suggested that work around the mental health of children and young people should continue to be a focus for the Board. 

Schools were thought to be central to the issue of mental health in children and young people.  As most of the information about this issue was provided by the NHS, it was queried how the engagement of schools was being monitored, how poor performance was being challenged and how exemplar schools were being identified.  Schools were thought to be the most appropriate environment to identify issues soonest.  However, the education system was fragmented, especially with regard to funding.  It was anticipated that statistics could be collected from the health service as the information held by GPs could include the school that the child attended.  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) had identified those schools that were robust in identifying mental health issues amongst their students and those that were not so strong.  CNWL would need to consider how this information could be best shared with partners.  It was agreed that this issue be considered at a future Health and Wellbeing Board meeting. 

RESOLVED:  That the Health and Wellbeing Board noted the progress made:

1.    in implementing the Local Transformation Plan;

2.    in developing the local offer available for CYP and families in ‘Getting Advice’ and ‘Getting Help’ (building resilience and early intervention and prevention;

3.    in establishing the Hillingdon Thrive Network with the planned developments to support CYP ‘Getting Help’ and ‘Getting More Help’, through earlier and easier access to ‘specialist CYP MH services (CAMHS); and

4.    for CYP in ‘Getting More Help’ and ‘Getting Risk Support’ shown in the performance data from NHS commissioned services as at M9 (December).