To receive a report from the Interim Associate Directorate Manager (South Division).

The Healthy Young Minds Clinical Director went through the report which had been submitted to the Committee and highlighted the areas that had changed since the last update to the Health Scrutiny Committee in March 2018. A number of appointments had been made which had increased the team’s capacity. The main difficulties for the team were the continued high level of demand and the need to make further appointments. There had been a delay in releasing some of the services annual funding. When a Member of the Committee asked why this funding had not been released they were told that the issue related to the provider who was to receive the funds. The Healthy Young Minds Directorate Manager added that releasing the funds was to be discussed at a meeting on the 15^th October.

Another Committee Member enquired why the rate of accepted referrals had increased by 48%. The Healthy Young Minds Clinical Director explained that because the service now followed the Thrive model they had a lower threshold for referral acceptance as they signposted people to services which provided lower level support. This had negatively affected the services statistics as they were involved with a wider range of cases. The service had 10 pathways in total with the earliest point of each pathway being where voluntary services provided low level support. The Thrive model was also being adopted at a Greater Manchester level with funding and support being provided for the early stages of the pathways.

The Healthy Young Minds Directorate Manager noted that the Thrive model had a similar ethos to the restorative approach being used in the Child Protection Plan service. The service was moving towards a resilience building approach working with schools and other services in order to help children to cope with mental health issues. Healthy Young Minds would continue to provide support to children who were in crisis but would also increase the ability of the wider system to deal with children at lower levels to reduce the numbers of children in crisis. The service was also looking at the wider determinants of mental health such as the role a child’s environment played in their wellbeing.

The Vice Chair asked what the staffing structure of the service was. The Healthy Young Minds Directorate Manager went through the structure of the team and explained that there was a focus on recruiting younger staff as they had an ageing workforce. The group then discussed issues relating to the retention of staff, the level of staff turnover, and the impact that this had upon children receiving support. It was hoped that these issues would be tackled, in part, through the reduction of peoples’ dependence on the service so changes in staff would not have such a large Impact.

The Committee asked how referrals were made and how suitable treatment was decided upon. The Healthy Young Minds Directorate Manager said that GPs were the main source of referrals into the service and the referrals received varied in the level of information provided. In order to decide upon treatment they looked at a child’s level of need, their ability to function, their age, and their circumstances. Once the service understood a child’s situation they implemented support which was best suited to meet that child’s needs. The team often got ‘push back’ from children’s parents as they did not feel they were getting high enough level support or that the Council were not dealing with the child when, in actuality, they were but through a commissioned service. The Healthy Young Minds Clinical Director concluded by informing the Committee that the service had conducted GP direct training on referrals. Despite this they believed it would take a while before GPs understood the new structure of service and understood which was the right part of the service to send their referrals to.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted by the Committee.