Children’s mental health service celebrates improvements
A comprehensive national review has praised the significant progress made by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to improve the safety, access and quality of services it provides to children.
Assessors from the Quality Network for Community CAMHS (QNCC) visited the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Norfolk and Waveney late last year.
They peer reviewed evidence relating to 182 standards set by the by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which cover key areas such as access, referral and assessment, safeguarding, transfers of care, multi-agency working, staffing and training and environment and facilities.
The standards are split into ‘types’ in the QNCC’s final report, which are:
- Type one relates to patient safety, rights, dignity, the law and evidence-based care and treatment. The service met 91.20% of the 114 standards, representing a 16.64% improvement since 2023.
- Type two are criteria the service would be expected to meet. CAMHS met 75.90% of the 55 standards, a 19.65% improvement from 2023.
- Type three are desirable for a service to meet or are not the direct responsibility of the service. The team met 76.90% of the 13 standards, which is a 21.34% improvement compared with 2023.
The service significantly improved its performance across all three compared with its last review in 2023. The QNCC reviewers also highlighted several additional areas of good practice, and praised:
- Work which has taken place to tackle waiting times, which saw the number of children and young people waiting for over 52 weeks for assessment reduce from more than 500 to zero in just nine months.
- The team’s strong partnership working with others, as well as their professionalism.
- The environment provided for service users, which includes an art therapy room and quiet waiting rooms.
- The steps which are being taken to encourage feedback from service users and their families so the service can be further improved.
Samantha Mortimer, NSFT’s interim clinical transformation director for children and young people, said: “I am delighted with the results of our latest QNCC review, which are a testament to the tenacity and dedication of our team and their enthusiasm to improve our service.
“They have worked incredibly hard to reduce our waiting times for assessment over the past year. This has had a significant impact on children and their families by making sure that those who need treatment can get the help they need more quickly.”
Anthony Deery, chief nurse with NSFT, said: “We are really pleased with the QNCC’s report, and proud of the improvements in performance which the reviewers have highlighted.
“However, we recognise that there is still more to do to ensure we are delivering safer, kinder and better care to all of our service users, their families and carers, and are now working through the recommendations made by the QNCC so that we can improve further.”
Photos: CAMHS NSFT Norfolk Waveney teams pictures.zip [zip] 16MB