Agenda item

To receive a report outlining the findings and recommendations arising from the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Infants, Children, and Young People Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

The Board received a report from officers which was the final Needs Assessment in the work programme approved by the HWBB in July 2021.

Kate Rushall, Senior Public Health Manager, and Kelly Hayward, Technical Specialist – Public Health, presented the report which outlined the findings and recommendations arising from the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Infants, Children, and Young People Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

Kelly Hayward highlighted an overview of the context, expanded on the ‘Thrive’ framework along with the four quadrants which linked in.  The overarching recommendations were explained in greater detail and Members noted the thread running through all of the recommendations relating to data being in one place, good promotion, easy to access services and clearer pathways.  She advised that this work had been co-created with the voice of children and young people.

Kate Rushall continued the presentation taking Members through the need highlighted by age range.  With regard to the data, she highlighted the importance of place in the work using the example of students moving to University and the increased demand this could have on services.  Further information included data on the number of people accessing mental health services and self harm rates, taken from the Mental Health Services data set.

The officers outlined the next steps before publication of the document and the groups this would be presented to including the Children & Young People’s Partnership.  Future items on the JSNA work programme included Health Aging in January 2024 and Physical Health in May 2024. 

Councillor O’Donnell thanked the officers for their presentation which she felt was much needed.  She queried if self harm was an increased risk factor of suicide and whether individuals were receiving help elsewhere.  Officers explained that the Self Harm Working Group across Coventry and Warwickshire linked to the Suicide Strategy and they would look at that type of correlation.

The Chair highlighted the figures relating to people who self-harm but were unknown to services and the desire from schools who wanted to refer students to support.  Rachel explained that work was looked at across both clinical and social care, with teams looking to work together to bridge this need.  It was noted that mental health support was holistic with a whole host of teams who may be in contact with service users. 

In response to a comment from Councillor Humphreys, Diane Whitfield recognised that the system was not yet a seamless journey from birth, through school to secondary education but reiterated that work was ongoing to improve this.

Nigel Minns addressed the meeting and stated that there was a cohort of young people for whom the system did not work but if there was a clear diagnostic, there was usually help available.  He noted that CWPT had gone some way to identifying a solution by developing a model of mental health support for adults, which met the needs of people.  It was now important to look and see how this could be adapted for the needs of children.

The Chair referred to the data which showed that mental health conditions were increasing with age and felt that early intervention could help.  Officers confirmed that drug or alcohol abuse or issues  of domestic violence often related back to early childhood experiences and trauma not being supported or addressed.

Councillor Roodhouse recognised the complexity of the issues being discussed along with noticeable upwards shift due to social media.  He referred to a recent meeting where social media had been discussed and the ability to do more than refer an issue to the relevant panel.  He did not feel that recommendation 3 was strong enough and felt it could be improved.

In response, Councillor Bell clarified the process that the JSNA would follow and highlighted that the Children and Young People’s Partnership had a new Chair in Councillor O’Donnell, also present.  She stated that the JSNA would be considered by the Children and Young People Partnership and their response could help to inform future progress.

The recommendations were outlined and it was

Resolved

That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

1)    Notes and endorses the findings and recommendations arising from the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Infants, Children, and Young People Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA);

2)    Approves the publication of the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Infants, Children, and Young People JSNA and the development of an associated action plan that will be owned and delivered by the Children and Young People’s Partnership; and

3)    Notes the role of the Children and Young People’s Partnership, as an informal sub-group of the Health & Wellbeing Board, in overseeing the delivery of the recommendations from this JSNA and promote the group accordingly to ensure the right stakeholders are involved to deliver action based on the JSNA recommendations.