National Assembly for Wales

Children, Young People and Education Committee

CAM 08

Inquiry into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

Evidence from : NCN lead Caerphilly North ABUHB

	The Committee is interested in hearing about The availability of early intervention services for children and adolescents with mental health problems
1.	Comments: I am unaware of any early intervention services as such.we have the primary care mental health support service which has very limited staff trained in early CAHMS type work. With a 6-8 week wait . CAHMS waits are very long locally.
	Access to community specialist CAMHS at tier 2 and above for children and adolescents with mental health problems, including access to psychological therapies
2.	Comments: the long waiting list restricts access
	The extent to which CAMHS are embedded within broader health and social care services
3.	Comments: I have little knowledge of this so will not comment
	Whether CAMHS is given sufficient priority within broader mental health and social care services, including the allocation of resources to CAMHS
4.	Comments: CAMHS always seems underresouced with long waiting lists unable to cope with the demand. It tries to restrict its referral criteria but patients with more behavioural/psychological problems often have nowhere else to go
	Whether there is significant regional variation in access to CAMHS across Wales
5.	Comments: Unknown
	The effectiveness of the arrangements for children and young people with mental health problems who need emergency services
6.	Comments: Very limited, in the last case I dealt with after 5 pm – the advice was for the patient to attend cas which didn’t feel very satisfactory at the time
	The extent to which the current provision of CAMHS is promoting safeguarding, children’s rights, and the engagement of children and young people
7.	Comments: This must be limited by the limited service

Any other key issues identified by stakeholders

Comments:

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