Agenda item

Ms Jane Hainstock, Head of Joint Commissioning at North West London Integrated Care System (NWL ICS), advised that information from Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) / Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) had not been available when the agenda had been published.  This information would be circulated to the Board after the meeting. 

Ms Hainstock advised that a cultural change was needed in the approach to children's mental health and wellbeing.  The old tiered model had felt like young people and their parents were having to climb a ladder to move from one tier to the next and it would be important to not create a new set of challenges in the move to Thrive.  The set up and governance needed to be established before the structural features could be determined.

The implementation of the Thrive methodology was thought to be ambitious and a service mapping exercise had already been undertaken with partners.  This exercise had tried to align the language used by the different organisations and had identified a number of gaps and some short, medium and long term actions.  The voluntary sector had identified the need for more peer support and the need to increase capacity. 

It was noted that CAMHS was not the appropriate place for some mental health issues and that sometimes young people might be experiencing emotional distress rather than mental ill health.  Action was being taken regarding the criteria for using the CAMHS service and what was needed by those young people and their families that did not meet the threshold. 

Ms Hainstock advised that the activity data illustrated the level of pressure on the system with one in four children and young people now having a diagnosable mental health condition.  It would be important to understand why these young people were unwell to then be able to address the causes rather than medicalising the issue. 

The population health management project had set out an aspiration to have a single front door for all young people's services.  This would mean that young people would not have to tell their story more than once and that a plan could be put together. 

Following on from the first two Thrive meetings, a third meeting with partners had been scheduled for April 2023 where consideration would be given to what was being done well and what was not so good.  This would show where the focus needed to be so that the right teams could be pulled together, which might take time. 

Ms Patricia Wright, Chief Executive at The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH), advised that the NWL Integrated Care Board (ICB) had agreed three programmes of work, one of which was in relation to children and young people's mental health.  It would be important that the work being undertaken locally in relation to Thrive was fed into that research work.  It was confirmed that the Children and Young People's Transformation Board had received a presentation on that part of the research project and a two year pilot project for London was being introduced to provide a single front door. 

Ms Kelly O'Neill, the Council's Interim Director of Public Health, noted that a similar approach to the Thrive methodology had been introduced in Northamptonshire some time ago.  Although adults had been prioritised in work undertaken in the Borough, it was time to take a good look at services for children and young people.  Having been underfunded previously, increased investment meant that the needs of young people could be addressed at an earlier stage so that they are prevented from escalating into crisis. 

RESOLVED:  That the update be noted.