Agenda item

Commissioning Arrangements for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

(To receive a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer, Children's Services, which invites the Committee to consider future commissioning arrangements for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), which is due to be considered by the Executive on the 9 July 2019)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from Sally Savage, Chief Commissioning Officer, Children's Services, which invited the Committee to consider future commissioning arrangements for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

 

The Committee was advised that the views of the Committee would be reported to the Executive at its 9 July 2019 meeting, as part of the consideration of this item.

 

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report was a copy of the Executive report, which included a copy of the Commissioning Plan for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

 

The Chief Commissioning Officer provided the Committee with background information behind the commissioning review; current commissioning arrangements; the CAMHS review findings; the benefits of commissioning CAMHS for the council; and the budget required to fund CAMHS from 2020/21, details of which were shown on page 22 of the report.

 

It was reported that the Lincolnshire's Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy was due to be published shortly and that CAMHS was a key part of the local offer that would help to successfully deliver the strategy. It was noted that all recommendations made as part of the CAMHS review were in line with the proposed Strategy.   

 

The report highlighted that the recommended commissioning option was to enter into two Section 75 agreements with Clinical Commissioning Groups and Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) from 1 April 2020 onwards to continue existing arrangements for CAMHS.

 

It was reported that Lincolnshire had one of the highest performing CAMHS in the country and that preventative services such as Healthy Minds Lincolnshire and online counselling were resulting in lower referral rates to CAMHS locally.  The Committee noted that the recommended option as detailed on page 18 had been based on the current service performance.  Information relating to alternative options considered was detailed on page 18 of the report

 

The Committee was asked to consider the four recommendations as detailed on page 18 of the report and agree any additional comments they wished to make to the Executive in relation to this item.

 

It was noted that the joint investment from both the Council and Clinical Commissioning Groups had a huge impact on children and young people's mental health services.

 

During discussion, the Committee raised the following points:-

 

·         Page 21 - Needs Summary – The Committee was advised that the target for access to the service for 2019/10 was 35%.  The Committee was advised further that this target had been set by NHS England; and if the commissioners wanted to make sure that young people who needed support had access to it then there would need to be enough capacity within CAMHS and other emotional wellbeing services to ensure that was delivered.  To be counted it was clarified that a young person would have needed to have accessed the service, received treatment and then exited the service.  It was noted that there was a cost incurred if a young person was inappropriately referred;

·         Page 23 – Council Funding Implications (paragraph 1.21 of main report) – The Committee was reassured that there were strong relationships between the Council and LPFT, including challenge of the latter by the Council on how the Trust used the funding which they received;

·         Clinical Commissioning Groups - The Committee was advised that the anticipated consolidation of the four Lincolnshire CCGs into one CCG was unlikely to affect future CCG funding levels and the CCG commitment to CAMHS.  This had been reinforced by the commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan that funding for children and young people's mental health services would grow faster than overall NHS funding (Section 3.3 of the CAMHS Commissioning Plan – Policy Background and Statutory Duties);

·         Emotional Wellbeing in Schools – The Committee was advised that Schools were supported by services such as Healthy Minds Lincolnshire and Mobilise (Emotional Health and Wellbeing).  It was highlighted that in addition, Ofsted as part of its new inspection framework (effective from September 2019), would be seeking evidence from schools on how they provided pastoral support.  It was noted that the 'off-rolling' of pupils would also be considered under the new Ofsted framework; and that schools found to be 'off-rolling' pupils would see an impact on their overall Ofsted rating; 

·         Mental Health Support Teams in Schools – The Committee was advised that the Council had submitted a 'trailblazer' bid to NHS England for funding to establish Mental Health Support Teams in Schools, which would act as a link between pupils and young people's mental health services;

·         Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy – (Section 1 of CAMHS Commissioning Plan – Introduction).  It was highlighted that the Strategy was being developed and would be finalised in the coming months; and

·         Domestic Abuse Data - (Section 3.3 of CAMHS Commissioning Plan – Needs Summary).  Reassurance was given that although data on domestic abuse had not been included in the Needs Summary, it was available and had been taken into account in the commissioning process.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee unanimously supported the four recommendations to the Executive as set out in the report.

 

2.    That the following comments be passed to the Executive in relation to this item:-

 

·         Council Funding Implications (paragraph 1.21 of main report) - The Committee was reassured that there were strong relationships between the Council and LPFT, including challenge of the latter by the Council on how the Trust used the funding which they received;  

·         Clinical Commissioning Groups – The anticipated consolidation of the four Lincolnshire CCGs into one CCG was unlikely to affect future CCG funding levels and the CCG commitment to CAMHS.  This is reinforced by the commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan that funding for children and young people's mental health services would grow faster than overall NHS funding (Section 3.3 of CAMHS Commissioning Plan – Policy Background and Statutory Duties);

·         Emotional Wellbeing in Schools – Schools were supported by services such as Healthy Minds Lincolnshire and Mobilise (Emotional Health and Wellbeing).  In addition, Ofsted, as part of its new inspection framework (effective from September 2019), would be seeking evidence from schools on how they provided pastoral support.  The 'off-rolling' of pupils will also be considered under the new Ofsted framework.  Schools found to be 'off-rolling' pupils will see an impact on their overall Ofsted rating; 

·         Mental Health Support Teams in Schools – The Council has submitted a 'trailblazer' bid to NHS England for funding to establish Mental Health Support Teams in Schools, which would act as a link between pupils and young people’s mental health services;

·         Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy (Section 1 of CAMHS Commissioning Plan - Introduction) - This strategy was being developed and would be finalised in the coming months; and

·         Domestic Abuse Data (Section 3.3 of CAMHS Commissioning Plan – Needs Summary) – There was reassurance that although data on domestic abuse had not been included in the Needs Summary, it was available and had been taken into account in the commissioning process. 

 

3.    That arrangements be made for a workshop for members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider the new Ofsted Framework.

Supporting documents:

 

 
 
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