Agenda and minutes

It was agreed that Councillor Yousef Dahmash be appointed Chair for this meeting of the Joint Committee.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Mark Cargill, Corinne Davies, Pete Gilbert, Anne Parry, Jerry Roodhouse (replaced by Councillor Dominic Skinner), and Chris Williams, from John McRoberts, Reverend Elaine Scrivens and Sean Taylor (co-opted members of the Children and Young People OSC) and from Chris Bain (Healthwatch Warwickshire), Dr John Linnane (Assistant Interim Director (Director of Public Health and Strategic Commissioning)) and Nigel Minns (Strategic Director, People Group).

None

The minutes of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 12 June 2018 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

The Joint Committee received a report and presentation from Jed Francique and Michelle Rudd of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT) and Leeya Balbuena of Coventry and Warwickshire Mind. This provided an update on the Warwickshire Children and Young People’s Emotional Well-being and Mental Health contract delivered by CWPT in partnership with Mind. The update focussed on service developments, waiting times, service outcomes, challenges and achievements.

The key points raised were:

•      Warwickshire Children and Young People’s Emotional Well-being and Mental Health contract commenced in August 2017 and had been operational for nearly 18 months.

•      The new service aimed to deliver more integrated and responsive support for children and young people, their parents and/or carers, to address their emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.

•      Waiting times for the first appointment for mental health support were good and waiting times for follow-up appointments had improved considerably, when compared to the position at contract commencement 18 months ago.

•      Demand exceeded capacity and work was ongoing to try to mitigate this.

•      Service user feedback was positive.

•      The service was striving hard to develop and implement earlier help through a burgeoning community offer. This also sought to harness the capacity within third sector organisations. It continued to improve entry to the service via the improved navigation hub.

•      The ongoing development and roll-out of the Dimensions tool was a core part of CWPT strategy to understanding need and the help that was appropriate and available. The Dimensions tool had the potential to transform the way that the system worked.

•      Service development work was underway including collaborative working to respond effectively to the needs of vulnerable children and young people. Work continued to develop a tier three plus service, to support an effective response to children and young people in crisis.

•      Service user involvement was important.

•      The effective engagement of system partners

The Joint Committee was invited to submit questions and comments on the following areas, with replies being provided as indicated:

•      Several members commented on the positive progress made to date.

•      Reference was made to the Dimensions tool and how this could be improved. Several members referred to the recommendations from the task and finish group (TFG) which had included a recommendation to Cabinet on the provision of IT resources from the County Council to develop the Dimensions tool. It was questioned if this recommendation had been followed up. Louise Birta. CAMHS Commissioner understood that the IT officers had met with CWPT to evaluate the work required and the indicative cost for the development work was £18,000, but there was no county council budget for this sum.

•      Another member commented on the relatively low amount of money required and the usefulness of the Dimensions tool in providing early intervention. CWPT was bidding for funds through NHS England to improve the digital offer, including to fund improvements to the Dimensions tool.

•      It was questioned whether the recommendation from the TFG to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

None

The Committee rose at 3.35 pm

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                                                                                                                                Chair