P-05-754 Lack of support for children with disabilities at crisis – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 31.05.17

Hi,

Thanks for replying to me with regards to the petition.

There are a few points I would like to add;

1) CAMHS have been as supportive as possible. However they have had extremely limited resources and availability within this service has been hard to access. Dr zzzzzzz has limited appointments and time due to being so stretched with the amount of work load she has and covering such a large area.

2) Thankfully Thomas has an amazing Social Worker, this has not always been the case. Toms social worker zzzzzzz again can only do so much, she has done more than her job description. All she has come to is dead ends as we have with regards to medical support. Social workers are not medically trained. zzzzzzz contacted everyone possible throughout this crisis point and again hit dead ends, whilst only to be put down by those professionals I spoke to.

3) The problem comes down to there not being enough support for children with learning difficulties and mental health issues, not just in the area specified , but throughout Wales. The Merthyr Tydfil area has a crisis team available, but will not allow children with learning difficulties to access that service. I understand as a staff nurse myself the lack of funding, the situation with services developing and so on and funds becoming available (in time), but that hasn't helped my son ( and us as a family). Surely the crucial needs of a crisis team should be set up first and then the less vital parts parts added on as funding is available. To me and others it does come across as a form of discrimination.

4) Since setting up the petition I have become aware that CAMHS have received a bit more support and have had a little more availability to see Tom throughout this crisis (4 months ongoing) but it's still limited and most of the time unhelpful, at no fault of the CAHMS team.

I will continue to stress the lack of support to those who truly need it.

I do apologise that I have not limited the contents of my points, however I would like to think that you would understand my outrage, stress, upset and disappointment of this situation.

Kind regards,

Rebecca Weale