Children with mental health disorders waiting two years to be seen
West Berkshire Council to introduce emotional health academy to ensure young people get help within six weeks
CHILDREN in West Berkshire with mental health disorders are waiting up to two years to be seen by a professional.
The district council last week approved plans to introduce a new ‘Emotional Health Academy’ from April 2016 which it says will ensure children and young people get help and advice within six weeks.
The council says that its current specialist mental health services are over-subscribed and under-resourced with most young people waiting more than a year to be assessed and some up to two years.
It predicts that more than 3,000 children and young people between the ages of five and 19 in West Berkshire have a mental health disorder – and says that 80 per cent of those asking for help and support don’t receive a service.
Currently, children and young people needing extra mental health support are referred to a Primary Care and Mental Health Service (PCAMHS) and have to wait until their needs meet a certain threshold before they receive support.
Last year more than 5,000 West Berkshire children were referred to PCAMHS for emotional health services, but only 20 per cent of those received a service.
At a meeting last week, district councillors voted in favour of introducing the academy, which will come into effect next April and replace the current PCAMHS model.
In the short term, the PCAMHS system will continue but a multi-agency system will be established in which CAMH workers will be joined by workers from the council and voluntary sectors.
The academy, the council says, will ensure that children are waiting no longer than six weeks to be seen by a professional and that this early intervention will reduce the pressure on child protection services in the future.
As part of the new ‘academy’, the council will reinvest the £120,000 it currently spends on emotional health by recruiting less expensive workers and seeking funding from other partners including schools and health organisations.
At last week’s meeting, opposition leader Alan Macro expressed concern that the full-time academy workers would be trainees and asked for reassurances that they would be supervised at all times.
Studies found that 580 boys and 280 girls in West Berkshire between the ages of five and 10 have a mental health disorder.
A total of 780 boys and 615 girls aged between 11 and 16 are also thought to have a mental health condition.
It also found that 624 boys and 480 girls aged 17 to 19 have a mental health problem.
Promoting Mental Health for Life says one in 10 children and one in four adults will experience a mental health condition in any one year.
West Berkshire Council says the academy has the backing of the Department for Education and interest from the European Union.
