Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield OBE conducted a lightning review on access to CAMHS using data from 48 NHS trusts. The review shows that 28% of children and young people referred to CAMHS are turned away without receiving treatment, and that 58% are placed on a waiting list.
The review found that there are wide variations in the number and proportion of children and young people being referred to CAMHS across different regions. It shows that average waiting times following referral range from 14 to 200 days. It found that some children and young people are being turned away when they need help, with 79% of CAMHS imposing restrictions and thresholds for children and young people accessing their service. Almost half of the trusts included in the review reported that they only offered services for particular diagnosable conditions. Almost three quarters offered treatment based on the severity of the mental health condition. As a result, 28% of children referred to CAMHS were not allocated to a service.
More than one third of services stated that children and young people who missed appointments would face restrictions in accessing their services, and in many cases they were discharged from CAMHS. The report found that there can be many reasons why young people do not attend appointments, particularly if they live at a distance from the service, experience social isolation, or if their family life is unsettled.
Although the review does not make formal recommendations, young people involved in the report asked that services not rely on letters to get them to the first appointment and that contacts and reminders should be sent by phone and text message.
iaptus CYP is designed specifically for CAMHS and offers features for efficient administration of patient referrals and case-load management, collection of data and outcomes in appointments and monitoring of waiting times. The system auto-creates patient correspondence and offers an optional text message notification feature to send appointment reminder text messages.
Contact us to find out how iaptus CYP can help your service or join a free webinar.
