The Strategic Context of Increasing Access to CAMHS
Improving access to CAMHS is underpinned by high-quality commissioning and planning. The importance of engaging senior managers and key stakeholders including children, young people and their families and carers within CAMHS and across children’s services is key.
All children’s services must play their part in providing emotional and mental healthcare and support to children, young people and their families.
Question: How can this be achieved?
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Children’s services can achieve this by:
- Ensuring there is a shared vision and commitment to promoting the emotional health and well-being of all children and young people in the local area
- Involving partner agencies, particularly local authorities, in the development and commissioning of services for children’s emotional health and well-being
- Agreeing a core offer that expresses clearly to families and referrers the services available, the types of needs they meet, and any waiting time standards that apply to them – this would involve locally agreeing definitions of specialist services, for example, models could include varied elements of all levels of care (e.g., tiers 2, 3 and 4 services)
- Setting up mechanisms to engage and involve staff across universal, targeted and specialist services in planning and implementation