Agenda item

The Board received a presentation by Lee Golze (DMBC) and Andrea Ibbeson (DCCG) on the work being undertaken in preparation for the forthcoming new Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy that would be brought to the Health and Wellbeing Board in the New Year.

The presentation outlined where the partnership was currently in terms of mapping out services and the systems flow, acknowledging that there was still more to do. It also outlined the work done by the Young Advisors in liaising with children and young people about what the future vision and ambitions will be and what the next steps are.

Lee began by outlining the position in relation to current service demand, explaining that there had been increases in demand across a range of services, including:

• Non-urgent and urgent referrals to specialist CAMHS;
• Eating disorder caseloads, which had doubled compared to last year;
• The number of children waiting for an ADHD assessment;
• The percentage of Doncaster school pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs; and
• The number of DCST Forensic Psychology Team consultations, which had doubled in 2021.

It was reported that, pleasingly, the number of children and families accessing early help services was returning to pre-pandemic levels and of those receiving early help, more were staying and moving on to formal pathways.  However, within those figures, there had also been an increase in the prevalence of both Child and Parental mental health issues.

The Board noted that in the pupil lifestyle survey responses, there had been a reduction in the number of pupils stating that they were ‘very happy’ compared to last year, and an increase in children feeling ‘okay’.  Mental Health had almost doubled as a reason for children feeling sad or worried compared to the previous year.  The headline points to take away from this were that there were fewer children reporting high levels of resilience and fewer children saying that they were being listened to.

Lee continued by outlining the current challenges as identified in the risk profile.  The Board noted that many young people did not have diagnosable mental health conditions but had challenges around managing their wellbeing.  The important role that teachers played in supporting pupils in this regard was acknowledged.  In summarising the actions to reduce future risk and next steps, Lee drew particular attention to the work done in relation to developing a support package for schools, with dedicated Mental Health leads in place.

It was reported that the Young Advisors had been asked to develop a Vision and Ambitions for children’s mental health in Doncaster, the details of which were endorsed by the Board, and that they wished to hold partners to account for delivery against these within the Strategy.

Lee concluded by confirming that work on the Strategy would continue with a view to presenting the new Strategy to the Board in the New Year.

Discussion followed, during which Board Members asked questions and made comments/observations on a range of issues including:-

• The possible reasons behind the number of young people regularly attending A&E in relation to mental health behaviour and nature of the issues being presented;
• The anticipated timeframe for completing the mapping exercise of services and gap analysis;
• The current position with regard to provision of crisis response services for young people;
• The importance of incorporating a creativity strand in the new Strategy (with an offer of support from darts), which would help to build emotional resilience and develop interaction/communication skills in children and young people, and help them to understand and express their emotions more effectively.
• The Board welcomed the development of a Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and recognised the importance of ensuring that this was implemented and delivered over the next 3 years.

RESOLVED to:

1)    Note the information presented and agree to the new Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy being presented in the New Year;

2)    Agree the Vision and Ambitions developed by the Young Advisors; and

3)    Consider what improvements could be made to the way that data and information is collected, recorded and shared to develop more efficient working practices.