Agenda item

(To receive a report from Sara Gregory (Commissioning Officer), which provides the Schools' Forum with an update on the commissioning arrangements for the new emotional wellbeing service; 'Healthy Minds Lincolnshire' and to receive an overview of the support that will be made available from the new service and the opportunity for Schools' Forum to comment on the Service Model)

The Forum gave consideration to a report from Sara Gregory (Commissioning Officer), which provided an update on the commissioning arrangements for the new emotional wellbeing service; 'Healthy Minds Lincolnshire'; and received an overview of the support available from the new Service.

Appendix 1 to the report provided a summary of responses received in relation to the Emotional Wellbeing Service.

The Forum was reminded that on the 12 January 2017, the Forum had considered a report which had set out the Council's intention to commission a new emotional wellbeing service for children and young people in Lincolnshire.  The Healthy Minds Service would be offering direct support to children and young people and their families, experiencing emotional wellbeing concerns, where other services were not available to meet their needs.  The service would also provide the opportunity for training support to be provided to the school workforce to enable them to implement early school-based programmes to build resilience and provide guidance and support to school staff to enable them to become more confident in meeting the emotional wellbeing needs of pupils.

The Forum noted that a small working group which included representation from schools, the Council, public health, GPs and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) had been working together to help design the Service in more detail.  Engagement had also taken place with head teachers a summary of the feedback received was detailed in Appendix 1.  The Forum noted further that the Council was currently designing an online Emotional Wellbeing/Behaviour Pathway, which would provide a single point of access to services available locally to support emotional wellbeing and/or behaviour concerns and provide advice and guidance.

It was reported that the Service would be a Countywide service for all Lincolnshire children and young people up to the age of 19 (or up to 25 if they were identified as having special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) or are a care leaver).  The Service would comprise of two main elements of:-

·         Direct support to children and young people living in or going to school in Lincolnshire, and their parents/carers; and

·         Training for future teachers and childcare providers, Lincolnshire pre-school and school workforce, and other professionals working with Lincolnshire children and young people.

An overview of each of the Service delivery elements was shown on pages 55/56 of the report presented.

It was highlighted that the new service was due to commence on 1 October 2017 and that the Council was seeking to establish a partnership agreement with Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) via Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006, as a mechanism for securing the provision of the new service.

The additional investment of £1m through the High Needs budget of the Dedicated Schools Grant had resulted in additional resource being available to provide high-quality evidenced-based early support to Lincolnshire pupils, which would prevent an escalation of their needs to diagnosable mental health, to ensure that they achieve the best possible outcomes, in preparation for adult life.

During discussion, the Forum raised the following points:-

·         That a report should be received by the Forum at a later date advising what the service provided and what the impact the service was, however, it was recognised that the impact of the service would be monitored and reported on as part of the contract management process;

·         Benchmarking information – The Forum was advised that Devon County Council had an emotional wellbeing service; and the greatest impact had been the upskilling of staff in schools and being able to access services quicker;

·         The Forum was advised that the Council was currently looking at the most appropriate referral pathways and systems with LPFT to create greater fluidity between services, including closing gaps in thresholds between this new Service and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; and

·         That a further report be received at a later date for the Forum to reflect on the effectiveness of the emotional wellbeing/behaviour pathway, however it was recognised that the Forum was a strategic board and the operational pathway would be reviewed and managed by Lincolnshire County Council through its monitoring processes.

RESOLVED

That the report on the New Emotional Wellbeing Service for Children and Young People be noted.