Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what reasons are given for the rejection of referrals to child and adolescent mental health services from school-based teams.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not available. The Mental Health Services Data Set does not contain data specific to ‘school-based teams’.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence of deterioration in the mental health of those referred to child and adolescent mental health services in the period between initial assessment at the point of referral and treatment; and how they assess any such deterioration.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available to the children on waiting lists for treatment by child and adolescent mental health services, and to the parents of such children.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We do not hold information nationally on what support is available for children on waiting lists and their parents.
Local clinical commissioning groups commission a wide range of services based on the needs of their patients, and this may include additional or online support that might be helpful to children and their parents when on a waiting list.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of mental health trailblazer areas; and whether they plan to roll out the scheme more widely.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The first 59 Mental Health Support Teams will become operational very soon as part of the first wave of 25 ‘trailblazer’ areas, and 12 of these will also test the four-week waiting time for children’s and young people’s mental health services. In July 2019, NHS England confirmed a further 57 areas, where 123 new teams will be deployed from the end of 2020 to early 2021.
We are aiming to roll out Mental Health Support Teams to at least a fifth of the country by the end of 2022/23, with what we have learned from the first wave informing our approach.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the <i>Lightning Review</i> by the Children’s Commissioner published in May 2016 stating that "79% of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services stated that they imposed restrictions and thresholds on children and young people accessing their services", what are those (1) thresholds, and (2) restrictions.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The report, Lightning Review: Access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, was published independently by the Children’s Commissioner published in May 2016.
In the report, the Children’s Commissioner mentioned what they described as thresholds and restrictions to services. In the report these included the age of patients; the conditions that patients present with; the severity of conditions; and the severity of symptoms.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the meaning of "referred for urgent help" as used in the response to Recommendation 1 of their response to the <i>Five Year Forward View for Mental Health</i>, published on 9 January.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The reference to “referred for urgent help” in the Government’s response to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health about eating disorders, means people whose clinical presentation, in the judgement of the referring professional, should be seen by services quicker than the four weeks for routine cases.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times a child or young person will need to be referred before receiving treatment, following the introduction of the new access and waiting times standards for children and young people with an eating disorder which come into force in April.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The eating disorder referral to treatment standard states that by 2020, 95% of those referred for assessment or treatment for an eating disorder should receive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence concordant treatment within one week for urgent cases and within 4 weeks for every other case, as published in the Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder. Therefore, the expectation will be that by 2020, for the great majority of cases, a child or young person will need to be referred only once to services. A copy of Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Fall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidelines (1) have been, or (2) will be, issued to enable relevant professionals to determine whether a child or young person is in need of treatment under the new access and waiting times standards for children and young people with an eating disorder which come into force in April.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The NHS England document Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder contains detailed guidance on establishing and maintaining a community eating disorder service. It contains information on services, pathways and timelines to help health professionals make decisions on the care that children and young people require. A copy of the guidance is attached.