Agenda item

Mr Joe Nguyen, Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG), advised that, in 2018/19, HCCG had led on CAMHS with partners with a focus on crisis point.  However, it had been clear that CAMHS had needed to change and work was now underway to provide a multi-agency, integrated approach. It was anticipated that services such as the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and P3 Navigator (a national charity) could provide a single point of advice, access and triage, using multi-disciplinary assessment and short-term intervention. 

Between February and March 2020, Phase 1 prototyping had been undertaken in the south of the Borough providing access to the service through different avenues.  Phase 2 had built on the learning from Phase 1 to expand and develop the model to deliver an integrated early intervention response across the whole Borough to meet the new needs and potential gaps in provision.  This had included extending both Kooth and Think Ninja services to support the model, which had been up and running since May, with funding secured for the model until December 2020.  It was noted that there had been a 50% increase in the use of Kooth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Phase 3 would see the model being developed further.  To date, there had been 142 referrals brought to the referrals meeting and, of those, 32 had beenpassed to CAMHS for action.  The majority of the remaining referrals had been in relation to emotional support and wellbeing. 

Mr Nguyen advised that, although not achieving the target during 2019/2020, there had been an improvement in CAMHS core service performance with regard to the 18 week Referral to Treatment (RTT) target but that this had slipped during the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020 as 50% of staff had been impacted by the pandemic.  To achieve and sustain improvements, a review of job plans and specific Quality Improvement (QI) methodology had been undertaken in order to improve the referral and triage assessment process.  Mr Graeme Caul, Managing Director Goodall Division at CNWL, advised that the Trust welcomed the report and the work that had been undertaken.  He noted that the report illustrated the fragility of the CAMHS performance and advised that the Trust was doing what it could to drive productivity without negatively impacting on other services. 

The Hillingdon Navigator Plus project was being led by P3 charity and was designed to enhance the mental wellbeing of young people aged 16-25.  The ultimate aim of the project was to offer a person-centred early intervention approach to help young people thrive on their transition into adulthood.  There had been good buy in from partners who had not needed to be incentivised to work together on this project and funding had been provided by NHS England (NHSE) and HCCG.  The project offered links for young people into other services such as sexual health and tied in with the work of the Hillingdon Health and Care Partners (HHCP). 

Concern was expressed that, whilst Mr Nguyen had stated that the Navigator Plus project had been a good investment, funding would end in February 2021.  Mr Nguyen advised that he would pick this issue up with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) as there was additional funding available from NHSE and then provide the Board with an update. 

The Board endorsed the proposed direction of the work being undertaken and looked forward to being provided with an update on the outcomes. 

RESOLVED:  That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

1.    reviewed and provided feedback on the progress update for phases 1 and 2 of Hillingdon’s Integrated Early Intervention Service developments;

2.    reviewed and provided feedback on the future development (Phase 3) of the CYP Early Intervention and Multi-Agency Care and Support Model for Hillingdon’s Integrated Early Intervention Service; and

3.    considered and provided feedback on the requirement for formal agreements between agencies, around their involvement and time requirements, rather than relying on goodwill and relationships between individual professionals.