Issue - meetings

For the Committee to consider the current offer in Oldham for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing.

The Committee received a report presenting an overview of the current offer for children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing in Oldham.  The report presented as appendices, and as a basis for the Committee’s consideration, two documents that had been produced recently.

The first appended document was the CAMHS Local Transformational Plan (LTP) annual refresh 2019 compiled by Oldham CCG in association with its partners and building on the ambition identified within the original 2015 CAMHS LTP for children and young people in Oldham requiring emotional wellbeing and mental health support.  The annual refresh focuses on the changes and impacts the additional LTP investment had brought about and the LTP continues to be developed in accordance with local need and priorities.

Healthwatch had been invited by the CCG and Oldham Council to undertake a review of young people’s mental health services to ensure that the transformation of services reflects the needs and wants of families.  The Healthwatch report, the second appended document, presented the approach undertaken to the review, the analysis of responses received, highlighted areas that were working well as a result of changes introduced by the LTP and areas for improvement, and the recommendations arising from the review.

The Committee received a presentation from Dr Keith Jeffrey - Clinical Director for Mental Health (NHS Oldham CCG), Angela Welsh – Senior Commissioning Business Partner (NHS Oldham CCG), Oldham Cares, Julie Farley – Manager, Healthwatch Oldham, and Mike Bridges – Public Health Specialist, Oldham Council on the background to and the issues arising from the two documents considered.

CCG’s had been given the responsibility to develop, in association with local partners, CAMHS LTPs in response to the government’s policy document ‘Future in Mind’.  LTPs set out how local services would invest resources to improve children and young people’s mental health with the intention that these would be a ‘living document’ requiring an annual refresh.  Some of the changes introduced as a result of the LTP were considered, including work with schools and development of specialist services, both considered in more detail at section 1.2 - 1.3 of the Annual Refresh report.  Improvements in early access and the usefulness of better signposting were further noted and, in response to a query, Members were advised that eating disorder treatments ran from Hubs in Bury, which Oldham residents would access, and in Stockport.

In early 2019 Healthwatch had worked in partnership with local services and schools to gather feedback from families about their experience of using children and young people’s mental health services and the review findings were being shared with commissioners and providers to help inform the current redesign of services in Oldham.  The review comprised 90 families who had volunteered to complete questionnaires and/or participate in Focus Group interviews and 35 volunteer professionals.  There were acknowledged issues with the representative nature of the review participants and, in response to Members’ queries as to whether a lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) engagement was reflective of either service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13