This comes as demand for children’s mental health services is on the rise.
Originally published on Free Radio
For the first time children’s mental health services in Worcestershire have been rated Outstanding – the highest rating possible.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected a range of services provided by Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust during planned visits in September/October 2019.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team provides a countywide service for children up to 18 years and includes help for those with learning disabilities, eating disorders and there’s also a youth offending team.
In the report the CQC said:
“Staff were highly motivated to develop and adapt treatments that met patients individual needs.
“Young people and parents were extremely complimentary about their care package and the staff who provided it, and believed they received an excellent service.”
The report also cites the development of a Psychotherapy led under 5s service, and a new award winning app called BESTIE which has been built by local CAMHS clinicians, young people and IT staff. It will provide access to help and advice to support positive mental wellbeing.
Dr Ben Rodgers from the CAMHS team says it’s vital that children’s mental health issues are tackled early on to avoid them developing into adulthood.
He says the app is one of a range of treatments being given to young patients, which has been increasingly popular:
“It’s an online resource that helps young people to find better safer information about mental health, and when children come in to our teams, it’s to help track their mood and emotion using a whole range of avatars and characters that they’ve designed themselves. We can even now start to deliver things like online chat forums.”
Overall the Trust has maintained its Good rating which it achieved following previous inspections in 2015 and 2018.
Sarah Dugan, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, says:
“We are really pleased this report reflects the excellent care and treatment our staff provide across a range of services, sometimes in challenging and demanding circumstances.
“There are many other examples of our staff really going above and beyond and I am really proud of their hard work and unwavering commitment to their patients – the challenge is for us to work together with our partners to continue to maintain and improve standards even further.”
Laura Sanders 