New patient review processes promise to improve CAMHS care experiences
Young people in need of mental health support are set to benefit from new patient review processes being introduced this summer to improve their experiences of care.
From July 2024, face-to-face access assessments will become standard practice across the East Midlands for patients referred for child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) inpatient care.
Under previous arrangements, these referrals would be reviewed via a desktop assessment – but the introduction of face-to-face assessments for all cases will ensure a more personal approach that can better support the individual needs of each CAMHS patient.
The new process has been tested successfully by senior clinicians from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust ahead of the full rollout, with a lead in place to support its implementation throughout the East Midlands.
Simon Harris, Director of New Care Models for the East Midlands Collaborative for CAMHS, said: “Bringing in face-to-face access assessments as standard will enable us to gain a better understanding of our service users’ unique circumstances and provide a more holistic assessment of their needs and requirements, which in turn will help us to improve their experience of care. We are really pleased to be introducing this approach across the East Midlands for the benefit of all those we support.”
Also in place from July 2024 will be a new locally-led process for completing Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs). CETRs are for children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism who have been admitted (or are at risk of admission) to a CAMHS inpatient bed. They are undertaken to ensure that patients’ needs are being met and so that children and young people are only admitted when absolutely necessary and for the minimum amount of time possible.
This process was previously undertaken by NHS England with independent chairs leading reviews. Under the new locally-led arrangement, however, CETRs will be delivered by provider collaboratives with each review chaired by the patient’s case manager, who will already have a detailed understanding of their circumstances.
In our region, CETRs will be administered by IMPACT on behalf of the East Midlands Alliance.
Rachel Redgrave, Managing Director of the Impact Commissioning Support Hub, said: “This is great example of how the East Midlands Provider Collaboratives can work together and standardise processes across children, young, people and adult services. The ambition is to attract Experts by Experience from CAMHS, adult eating disorder and secure care to improve the patient experience and optimise therapeutic time spent in the in-patient setting.”