Agenda item

(CSP: P&S, P&S1)

Purpose:  To update the Executive on the Brilliant West Berkshire (BWB): Building Community Together emotional health re-design proposals for children and young people’s emotional health services.

Resolved that the Executive approve the design proposals for the Emotional Health Academy; including the creation of the additional posts.

This decision is eligible to be ‘called-in’.  However, if the decision has not been ‘called-in’ by 5.00pm on 27 November 2015, then it will be implemented.

Councillor Lynne Doherty introduced the report (Agenda Item 7) which provided an update on the Brilliant West Berkshire Building Community Together emotional health re-design proposals for children and young people’s emotional health services and which sought Executive approval of the design proposals for the Emotional Health Academy which included the creation of additional posts.

Emotional health need was one of the most common early indications of additional need; left unsupported, early emotional health difficulties could rapidly develop into a diagnosed mental health condition. Over 5,000 West Berkshire children had been referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) last year alone for emotional health services.

80% of children and young people asking CAMHS for support/help in West Berkshire did not receive a service. The vast majority of children subject to Child Protection Plans and those open to the Youth Offending Team had emotional health needs and many had mental health disorders. Most children were waiting over a year to be seen by a mental health professional and some were waiting over two years; for most children and young people, their condition would deteriorate significantly in that time.

Currently children and young people requiring extra mental health support were referred to a CAMHS single common point of entry (CPE). If they met the criteria and threshold they would be referred to Primary CAMHS workers who worked at Tier 2, or for more intense and specialist Tier 3 and 4 interventions. The Council currently gave £80k a year in funding which funded two 0.5 FTE (full time equivalent) workers. Just under 6,000 contacts for help and support had been made in West Berkshire in the last year which meant that having a resource of 1.0 FTE was insufficient to cope with demand.

As part of the Brilliant West Berkshire work it was proposed to create an Emotional Health Academy which was an innovative idea unique to West Berkshire and would use the funding provided by the Council more wisely. Schools and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) had also been asked to provide funding and the service would grow proportionately to reflect the level of funding from other agencies. The Department of Health and the Department for Education had looked at the proposals and had provided feedback that they were innovative. Feedback received from partners had also been positive.

The creation of an Emotional Health Academy would ensure that:

·           Children would be seen in a week, rather than waiting a year. Newly qualified psychology graduates and other emotional health qualified staff would be trained to work with children and families in the communities in which they lived.

·           The Council would work in partnershipto ensure that these staff worked closely with schools, GP surgeries, Children’s Centres, the Police and crucially with the voluntary sector.

·           The needs of the whole family would be looked at, not just the child by testing a new way of working with adult services to see how the Council could work more effectively with whole families; where both adults and children were affected by emotional health needs.

·           Sustaining good health – the Council would support children and young people to develop sustainable strategies to keep themselves well and promote their long-term well-being; by drawing on their own resources, the resources of their friends and family; by utilising and creating community led resources.

·           Getting to children early would reduce the pressure on child protection services and Tier 3 mental health services later.

The report also proposed to commission specialist voluntary sector providers to provide more non-stigmatising care in, and to, communities in close partnership with the Academy.

The Academy would require the creation of additional posts (four minimum and eight maximum) within the employment of West Berkshire Council. The business case appended to the report outlined the plans which would ensure that the Emotional Health Academy became financially self-sustaining and this would fund the posts.

Councillor Doherty felt these proposals were an excellent example of looking to improve service delivery in a more innovative way. The Executive was asked to give its support to progressing the implementation of the Emotional Health Academy, Emotional Health Triage and associated partnership working with the voluntary, community and faith sectors; and to approve the creation of new and additional posts.

Councillor Alan Macro noted that it was proposed for newly qualified psychology graduates to work with children and adolescents with emotional health needs and he queried whether these trainees would be adequately supervised. Councillor Doherty explained that a full time Clinical Worker and clinical supervision provided by Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust would be a key factor of this proposal and this was detailed within the full proposal document which had been provided.

Councillor Macro then queried how services would be covered during the transition from the existing service delivery to the new proposals, i.e. prior to the recruitment of the new posts. Councillor Doherty reported that the recruitment process for the new posts would commence immediately, subject to the Executive’s approval, to enable workers to be recruited and inducted before the current Tier 2 Primary CAMHS contract came to an end, to enable the Academy services to be operationalised in good time for the 1 April 2016. It was also the intention for service provision to develop over time, i.e. as new posts were recruited to.

Councillor Macro also asked whether the service could continue should external funding cease, for example, from the CCGs. Councillor Doherty clarified that the CCGs had already indicated that they would be willing to contribute funding and there would be clarity by mid December 2015 on the funding which would be provided by schools. The Emotional Health Academy had a sustainable business model (see the Emotional Health Academy Business Case). The longer term intention was for children and young people with emotional health needs to be supported within their school/within their community.

RESOLVED that the design proposals for the Emotional Health Academy be approved, including the creation of additional posts.

Reason for the decision: To provide an update on the Brilliant West Berkshire Building Community Together emotional health re-design proposals for children and young people’s emotional health services and to approve the design proposals for the Emotional Health Academy which includes the creation of additional posts.

Other options considered: The Council could continue funding Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust to deliver the service. However, there were some concerns in relation to this option which were detailed within the report.