CAMHS Update
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Kirklees was taken over by the South West Yorkshire Foundation Trust (SWYFT) on 1st April 2013. As discussed in our summer newsletter, many parents have experienced difficulties with accessing this service, and with ongoing support from it. SWYFT have taken over the management and running of CAMHS and are consulting with parents about how it can be improved as part of their own Transformation Plan for the service.Although some people are receiving a satisfactory service, many people are not, and the key areas that SWYFT are looking at initially are:
- Access to Services and locality
- Response and Waiting Times
- Improved involvement with parents, carers and children
- Working with other organisations, eg. schools
A meeting with PCAN members was held on Thursday 12th December where the above points were discussed. Parents shared their experiences, positive and negative, and came up with suggestions on how the service could be improved. PCAN sumitted that information to SWYFT in December so it can be incorporated into their Transformation Plan. The lead officer for CAMHS at SWYFT, Ann Brown, was shocked to hear of some of the experiences of parents at the meeting, as well as experiences she had heard about at another event organised by a parent member. Ann is very keen to act on parents’ suggestions, but she has pointed out that the changes required would take quite some time to implement as many of the issues are not a quick fix.It is very hard for parents to be patient in the meantime, but it would appear that SWYFT is totally committed to transforming the service and getting it right and that parents are being listened to. SWYFT will keep us informed of progress and will issue an update in February. Meanwhile, they are keen to gather information about your recent experiences with the service (visits from 1st April 2013). If you have not already done so, please follow this link to share your views: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CAMHScarer
The report we sent to CAMHS following the meeting in December can be found here: CAMHS Event Thursday 12th December 2013(1)
