The CYP NHS Long Term Plan aimed to give children a stronger start in life. To achieve this, it focused on improving healthcare from birth. Additionally, the plan sought to provide better support for those with long-term conditions. Finally, it expanded mental health support available through community-based services. As a result, funding for CYP mental health services grew faster than overall NHS funding and total mental health spending.
This underlines commitments to mental health services for CYP made in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. Therefore, it is vital that funding remains earmarked for and reaches front line teams to help them develop their workforce. This will enable them to meet the ambitions of the plan.
What does the plan mean for CYP seeking support from mental health services?
For those experiencing common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, the plan committed to better access to community mental health services. The plan set a target for at least 345,000 additional children to access support. Specifically, this goal includes young people aged 0 to 25. Furthermore, this support is accessed via NHS-funded CAMHS and community services. It also covers mental health support provided within schools and colleges by 2023/24. The plan commits to ensuring 100% of CYP who need specialist care can access it in the coming decade.
The plan reiterates commitments from the CYP mental health green paper to improve access to support in schools and colleges. It aims to reach 25% of the country by the end of 2023 through Mental Health Support Teams in Trailblazer areas. These new teams will be supervised by NHS CYP mental health services and will test a four week waiting time standard.
Children’s mental health: CYP NHS Long Term Plan
Young people often experience a gap between CYP and adult mental health services. Also, they experience gaps between CYP mental health services and other health and social care services. The plan addresses this by extending current service models to offer care to those up to 25 years old. It also takes an integrated approach across health, social care, education and voluntary sector services. This reflects commitments in the plan to move towards integrated care systems and service models for young people that offer person-centred and age appropriate care for mental and physical health.
The i-THRIVE operating model – cited in the plan as being used by services covering around 47% of the under 18 population – is supporting the development of integrated services focussed on the needs of children, young people and their families. The plan proposes that this model can be extended to cover services for those up to 25 years old. The model was developed by the Anna Freud Centre and UCL with Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It encourages shared decision making between mental health services and the children and young people in their care.
For children and young people with an eating disorder, the plan promises easier access to specialist services, with these services receiving additional funding. New waiting time standards will be implemented across services by 2020/21, with patients waiting no longer than one week for urgent cases and four weeks for non-urgent cases.
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