Presentation of Craig Harris, Executive Director of Nursing, Safeguarding and Commissioning, the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services, Helen Scott, Senior Commissioning Manager, and Maria Slater, General Manager of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

This presentation provides information on the practice, delivery and impact related to Manchester's Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The Committee received a presentation of Craig Harris, Executive Director of Nursing, Safeguarding and Commissioning, the Strategic Director of

Children and Education Services, Helen Scott, Senior Commissioning Manager, and Maria Slater, General Manager of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) which provided information on the practice, delivery and impact related to Manchester's Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Some of the main points and themes within the presentation included:

• The current position;
• The THRIVE model, which aimed to re-design how services were aligned to one another and shifted the focus to preventing children and young people from reaching a crisis point; and
• The key workstreams.

Councillor Midgley, Mental Health Champion, had been invited to address the Committee.  She highlighted the issue of children who were well-supported in hospital but who, on leaving hospital, currently had less support and were consequently re-admitted to hospital.  She requested further information on the crisis care pathway and the Manchester Beds for Manchester Children scheme. 

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To note that good progress was being made to improve services;
• Work taking place with schools and that schools would appreciate partnership working with specialists; and
• To request further information on the membership of the Manchester THRIVE Partnership Board.

Darren Parsonage from Manchester Health and Care Commissioning (MHCC) reported that the Manchester Beds for Manchester Children scheme was a Greater Manchester-wide scheme which aimed to ensure that Greater Manchester children were allocated beds in Greater Manchester hospitals.  He informed Members about the Mentally Health Schools programme currently being piloted at a limited number of schools across Greater Manchester.  He also informed Members that all Manchester schools had access to a CAMHS practitioner.

Maria Slater informed the Committee that the crisis care pathway would be part of the highly specialised 24 hours a day, seven days a week offer, and that this would be supported by 10 new members of staff across Manchester and Salford, who were in addition to existing CAMHS staff.  She reported that the new staff would work flexibly and would visit children and young people in crisis at their home or school rather than the children attending hospitals’ Accident and Emergency departments.  She advised that the new team would offer support at the time of crisis for the first 72 hours, at which point the children would access CAMHS’ core offer.  She informed Members that many of these children were already known to CAMHS.  She outlined work taking place in schools to build children’s resilience and improve their mental well-being.  She informed Members about the Manchester THRIVE Partnership Board and invited Members to get involved in this.  Ms Slater also reported how young people were consulted on this work, including through the Young Person’s Forum and offered to circulate posters about the Young Person’s Forum to Committee Members.

Decisions

1.            To request that details of the Manchester THRIVE Partnership Board be circulated to Members of the Committee.

2.            To receive a report on progress made in 12 months’ time.