Practical Steps
Click on the links below.
A number of practical steps can be taken to improve access to CAMHS.
These include:
- Defining the services being provided and the scope of what is offered by each
- Understanding current performance or waiting times for CAMHS, across all agencies
- Setting and agreeing locally defined standards and pathways
- Setting and agreeing expectations for the timely delivery of treatments and interventions
- Agreeing performance measures which will be used to review if access is increasing
- Establishing reporting mechanisms
Care pathways
Clear pathways support access and can be helpful both for staff and for children, young people and families. A care pathway is an agreement between commissioners and providers based on the model of care that is appropriate to meet local needs effectively. It should aim to have:
- The right people
- In the right order
- In the right place
- Doing the right thing
- At the right time
- With the right outcomes
A care pathway in CAMHS should include:
- A definition of the patient group covered
- Local and national standards and intended outcomes for that group of patients
- References to the evidence-based practice used to inform local practice
- Maps and flow charts showing the clinical and non-clinical processes designed to implement good practice in the diagnosis, treatment and management of the patient group
- A way of recording and monitoring variances
- A family-friendly leaflet describing what will happen when, where and why