The Doncaster Consultation and Advice Service, established in September 2016, aims to provide consultation, guidance, support and co-working for professionals, brief interventions with children and young people, and assessments to better identify their current care needs. The service has put in place several initiatives to increase collaborative multiagency working to enable early identification and intervention to meet the needs of children and young people.
The Doncaster Consultation and Advice Service, established in September 2016, aims to provide consultation, guidance, support and co-working for professionals, brief interventions with children and young people, and assessments to better identify their current care needs. The service has put in place several initiatives to increase collaborative multiagency working to enable early identification and intervention to meet the needs of children and young people.
Access and support through services
Each locality in Doncaster has an identified member of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team working directly with schools and GPs in that area to provide a direct link with the CAMHS service. The locality worker offers support to the most appropriate person within the child or young person’s network to lead their case and ensure that care coordination is not lost through service transitions. The CAMHS worker also liaises with other professionals to step-up and step-down cases through CAMHS to ensure that children and young people are better supported, do not unnecessarily enter services, and receive the most appropriate support on discharge from the specialist CAMHS service.
Early intervention
The service can deliver brief interventions directly with the child or young person, or short term 1:1 support for their mental health and wellbeing. This may be a discrete piece of work or a period of extended assessment for further identification of needs to ensure the most appropriate referrals are made in a timely manner. Practitioners offer appointments in a range of appropriate venues that are closer to home, such as schools, GPs and local children’s centres, to provide flexibility and improve the child or young person’s ability to attend and engage with the appointments offered.
Multiagency working and collaboration
The consultation and advice team work in partnership with schools, colleges, Early Help Teams, Social Care Teams, GPs and other practitioners in a child or young person’s network. They offer regular consultation slots for professionals to book into to discuss cases; receive advice, consultation, training, support and supervision to manage cases; and have a direct link into specialist mental health services. The team undertakes joint visiting and assessments where clinically appropriate to ensure families do not experience excessive appointments. They also provide training and education to increase awareness of children’s mental health services, mental health issues and mental wellbeing with the aim of reducing stigma around mental health and increasing access to support.
What makes this service an example of positive practice?
We are dedicated professionals who wish to make a difference to the lives of children and young people. We are passionate about early intervention, promoting positive mental health, wellbeing and resilience.
Children and young people will benefit from early identification and help with regards to their mental health and wellbeing. This will mean their needs are identified and acted upon at the earliest possible time and so they may not need to enter formal services such as CAMHS. This should reduce the waiting times for the various services and ensure that young people are only accessing the specific support that they need.
We will also be offering support and guidance for their teachers, which will hopefully allow staff that children and young people are already working with and know well, to be able to offer the support and guidance that they need.
Further details
Commissioning
Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group
Providers
Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS foundation trust
Workforce (WTE)
1.5 clinical psychologists (band 7 and 8b), 1 therapist (band 6) and 5 mental health nurses (band 6)
Population size
302,400 of which 72,100 are children and young people (0-19 years)
Age
Age 5 to 18
Caseload
From Nov and March 2017: 764 planned consultations and 199 unplanned consultations
Prevention and resilience – universal and early intervention for at risk
Access and advice – consultation lines, triage and signposting
