Agenda item

Janet Spurling, Scrutiny Officer, presented a report containing the response from partner agencies to the 11 recommendations arising from the spotlight review undertaken by the Youth Cabinet regarding Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Rotherham.  The Youth Cabinet were also keen to scrutinise wider working and links between partner agencies especially through the School Nursing Service.

The review was carried out under the Children’s Commissioner’s Takeover Challenge initiative with the young people taking over a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board. 

The 11 recommendations were set out in full in Appendix 1 of the report submitted together with the detailed responses from partner agencies.  The recommendations covered the following areas:-

·         Involvement of young people – to inform practice and service development

·         Reporting progress – on implementation of the new models/services

·         Improving information – promoting and maintaining websites and addressing stigma

·         Closer multi-agency working – in localities and with schools

·         School Nursing Service – higher profile and accessibility

·         Enabling informed choices by young people – regarding their treatment

Consideration was given to the Appendix which contained the initial responses to the recommendations.  Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/highlighted:-

A detailed plan was needed with dates and times plus clarity over reporting routes from partners back to RYC and then to HSC if necessary. When would agencies be reporting back to RYC on the actions or with an explanation if there has been no action? – Some will take time, some are easy or already done such as the waiting area – music channels or tv and putting iPads in on stands.  RDaSH will liaise with RYC and their input would be welcomed into action plan.  This also linked with recommendation 5 for an annual update to RYC which could be more frequent if required.

Opening hours for the Single Point of Access (SPA)? – RDaSH want to move to an 8am to 8pm service so that it does not affect young people’s school time and so they can be seen after school.  As much as the trust wants to provide services in schools that is not always acceptable to all young people, so appointments will not always be in schools and it is important to talk to young people about where they want to be seen.  10-12 noon on Wednesdays seemed to be a popular slot for some reason.  Families did say they wanted to be seen on weekends and between 4-6pm. Views on preferred locations for appointments differed but in general Rotherham town centre was seen as better than Kimberworth Place or people wanted an appointment in a locality base, but not always in a school. Again some were happy to be seen in the home and others not. The consultation report could be shared with HSC.  Details around staffing were still to be worked out if parents want 8am appointments as usually mornings are more for people who have been admitted to hospital the previous night.

Out of hours will be through working with the Adult Mental Health out of hours service on call to cover 8pm-8am. Work and training with adults’ services would ensure safe transfer. This would be cost effective and reduced demand for services has been seen in other areas with an 8am-8pm model.

TRFT confirmed that they had been successful in being awarded the 0-19 health services contract and thanked RYC for their participation in the commissioning process. Official feedback to the group by Public Health would be on 17 November.

Draft principles for the new RDaSH CAMHS web site were going out for discussion with young people. Much of the information on the current website would move across.  The delay had been due to the reconfiguration into place based care groups and all children’s coming together. A completion date would be forwarded to the commission for the website and for the voice and influence policy.

Now the 0-19 contract has been awarded there is some work to do in rolling out locality workingand there is the willingness and commitment to do that. Meeting dates have been set and a joint communications pathway will be developed between RDaSH and the SNS.

The importance of the monthly provider to provider meetings was emphasised. These had taken place for several months and were well attended by TRFT and RDaSH colleagues and had led to some of improvements seen, particularly the A&E response by RDaSH and the  children’s ward response by RDaSH. 

Juliette Penney, TRFT attends the secondary headteachers meetings so she will be leading on raising the profile of the SNS in schools and involving headteachers in how to market the SNS. HSC agreed to maintain a watching brief and to receive information  on any outstanding issues.

Part of the work on marketing the SNS will also be going out to young people to encourage them to work with the service and contact has been made with a RYC member to get their input as well.

Can academies opt out of the School Nursing Service? – No as it is a universal service available to everybody.  Some academies are more open to partnership working than others but they cannot opt out

The School Nursing Service was locality based and RDaSH had been  reconfigured around the same localities so that would enable joint working from there. Although there were some anomalies in the number of localities used by different agencies, for example adult health and social care based on seven and Early Help based on nine there is an overlap so areas are covered.

The Family Support Services work on stigma was important and it was agreed the update to RYC on 17 November would include this to capture the wider range of activities.

Concerns were raised regarding transition from CAMHS to AMHS and Cllr Roche informed the commission that a new transition board was being set up chaired by the Director of Adult Services and he was confident this would lead to improvements.

Could young people be involved in the work on transition, as it is happening to them so they are the best ones to talk about what needs to be put in place? – The new board was officer led and the date of the first meeting would be forwarded to the commission. The terms of reference may include details of plans to engage with young people but communication with young people to ask them how the service could be improved could be arranged.

Was the transition tool kit that was recently launched in Leeds being used? – RDaSH had carried out an initial draft of scoping against the toolkit which had been shared with CCG.  This is a CQUIN target.

Members requested that RDaSH and partner agencies discuss the concerns regarding transition following the meeting to ensure young people receive support even if they do not meet thresholds for AMHS.

Recommendations 1, 3, 4, 8 and 11 from this review also linked to the Voice and Influence review recommendations and priorities for participation being taken forward in minute 45 below.

Resolved:- 

(1)  That the response to the review undertaken by Rotherham Youth Cabinet be considered and noted.

(2)  That all dates be finalised for the actions in the response template.

(3)  That partner agencies discuss issues regarding improving transition from CAMHS.

(4)  That future progress updates include clear evidence and       data, especially with regard to involvement of young people and improved outcomes.

(5)  That HSC would maintain a watching brief on progress in raising the profile of the School Nursing Service in schools.

(6)  That the next progress update would be in March 2017.