Agenda item

Ian Ayres (Accountable Officer, NHS West Kent CCG), Dave Holman (Head of Mental Health Programme Area, NHS West Kent CCG) and Karen Sharp (Head of Public Health Commissioning, Kent County Council) were in attendance for this item.

(1)       The Chairman welcomed the guests to the meeting. Mr Ayres began by giving an overview of the new model of care; the model offered a single point of access for children, young people and their carers; stronger partnership working and improved transition into adult mental health services. He noted that there had been extensive public engagement in the development of the Emotional Wellbeing Strategy. He stated that his provisional view was that the model was not a substantial variation of service and did not require public consultation.

(2)       Ms Sharp noted that she had committed to returning to the Committee at its June meeting to provide answers to questions about emotional wellbeing in schools and early intervention. She explained that the new model would support schools to teach good emotional wellbeing and resilience. She stated that Kent was one of 12 local authorities to pilot Headstart, a resilience building programme. She explained that there were a high number of young people with emotional wellbeing issues such as bullying, anxiety and low level depression who needed an additional level of support but did not require CAMHS services. As part of the new model, all hubs would have a specialist mental health practitioner to support young people who required an additional level of support at an early stage. She reported that early intervention prevented the emotional wellbeing issues from escalating and reduced demand on specialist services.   

(3)       Mr Holman explained that there were some minor changes being made, to the model and draft specification, before the contract procurement began in early October. The new contract would begin in August 2016. He noted that the Children’s Health & Wellbeing Board would act as the Contract Procurement Board using NHS and KCC’s joint expertise during the procurement process.

(4)       Members enquired about the new service specification and requested sight of it before making a determination as to whether the new model of care and service specification constituted a substantial variation of service. Mr Ayres committed to returning to the October meeting with the specification.

(5)       A Member raised concerns about the new model placing an additional burden on schools. Ms Sharp explained that schools previously had to refer students externally for early intervention services; under the new model, early intervention services could be provided directly within the school, enabling children and young people to be seen more quickly.  She noted that guidance on the best resources for promoting emotional wellbeing and resilience would be provided to schools. She reported that the promotion of emotional wellbeing, as part of new national guidance, had recently become an Ofsted inspection criteria. Mr Ayres noted that the majority of school were self-governing and schools did not have to follow the guidance on promoting emotional wellbeing and resilience.

(6)       A number of comments were made about the additional demand on services by unaccompanied asylum seekers and Children in Care; Big Lottery Funding; point of access in a crisis; and early intervention. Mr Holman explained that there was an overall service specification and an individual specification for Children in Care and children affected by Child Sexual Exploitation in order to meet the needs of the individual. Ms Sharp confirmed that Kent had been part of a successful national bid for Big Lottery Funding; the allocation for Kent had not been announced. The funding would be aligned to the Emotional Wellbeing Strategy and Model. Mr Holman highlighted the Kent & Medway Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat signed by 22 stakeholders to provide a multi-agency response for people including children and young people. Mr Ayres explained that greater access and early intervention reduced demand on specialist services and created whole life savings.

(7)       Mr Inett enquired if there would be an ongoing mechanism for children and young people to evaluate and feedback about services as part of the specification. Mr Ayres stated the importance of continuous engagement and evaluation with children and young people and the need for this to be made explicit within the specification.

(8)       RESOLVED that the report be noted and the new service specification be presented to the Committee on 9 October.