CAMHS have launched a new six-appointment scheme to cut down long waiting times

A children and young people’s mental health support scrutiny meeting has revealed that more than a quarter of children still have to wait up to 36 weeks for their second appointment with CAMHS in Sheffield.

Although reports show that 97% of young people now receive their first appointment with CAMHS within 18 weeks, putting Sheffield’s services above national standard; with no national standard for internal waits, only 72% of young people will get their second appointment within 18 weeks, leaving 28% of young people waiting up to 36 weeks with their health potentially declining.

As a step to give quicker treatment to patients, CAMHS have set up a new pathway to discharge young people after six appointments if their needs have been met. With the waiting time under six weeks, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners have evaluated this scheme positively.

Although, councillors such as cllr. Francyne Johnson have questioned whether the pressure of reducing wait times for referrals could affect the efficiency of treatment with this model.

CAMHS Service Manager at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Nicola Ennis, said the model helps to give children and young people appointments ‘within two weeks’.

While some patients may only need an assessment and a singular appointment, ‘up to 14 sessions can be appointed’ depending on the patient’s development.

There are no statistics yet available of patients re-entering the system following dischargement from this model.

Holly Dunn, 23, a student in Sheffield, spoke out about her experience with Sheffield’s services since moving to the area two years ago from Gloucestershire:

‘I receive an appointment every two weeks. If I didn’t book my next appointment after my session then the secretary of the department I go to phones me. They’re really good.

‘I’ve been in the system for 11 years now, and that makes me wonder if people are put on this new 6-appointment scheme then they’ll just be receiving short-term therapy and re-entering the system again and again.

‘Not being really underweight always made me feel I wasn’t sick enough for help until I was admitted to an inpatient treatment center.

‘I think it’s easy for the stigma around mental health to affect how you see mental health when you’re young. I hope that schools are more aware of mental health and teach people how to talk about it.’

Councillor Abtisam Mohamed mentioned in-school work on breaking down stigma around mental health with students, particularly around young men. However, Nicola Ennis reported there was not enough NHS funding to target that.

Nicola Ennis was congratulated on the improvements made by CAMHS by cllr. Mick Rooney, but he has urged them to continue making improvements to waiting times, and seek other ways to break down the stigma around mental health.