We are disappointed that the National Autistic Society felt they needed to send this press release without first speaking to us about the amount of work we have undertaken to address the issues in CAMHs.

We have been open and transparent with our partners, commissioners, stakeholders and the wider public regarding the issues we have faced and the amount of work we have undertaken to improve our CAMHs service.

While Autism is a mental health issue, not all autistic children need the specialist help of the CAMHs teams. This is why we have been working with commissioners and our partners to develop a service for those with the more mild mental health conditions sometimes associated with autism.

Following a survey by the National Autistic Society in 2014 we explained how we were working with our partners to improve the autism pathway; this work has now been completed.

Our CAMHs teams are now fully recruited with the exception of psychiatry. We have two substantive psychiatrists and we are covering the vacant posts with locums where it is possible and safe to do so.

The CAMHs service has seen a 100% increase in referrals over the last year and many of these have been inappropriate. Approximately 1/3 of all referrals into the CAMHS don’t need the specialist support it provides – work is underway with all partner referrers and communities around the purpose of the tier 3 service and the investment into tier 2 services will help to reduce referrals which would be more appropriate for other services.

For our CAMHS staff in South Cumbria, it has been a particularly challenging period. They have had to deal with increasing demand at a time when staffing was reduced. This has caused additional pressure but all have shown determination above and beyond their duties to do the best possible for our young people. We are extremely grateful for their hard work, dedication and commitment in making improvements in such challenging circumstances.

Although there has been some improvement in waiting times in recent months, waiting times are unacceptably long and lack responsiveness in some areas. We are addressing this by changing the way we communicate with families whilst they are on the waiting list offering them other means of support and advice. The work addressing inappropriate referrals will also help alleviate this.

It is unfair and incorrect to assume that young people’s mental health is the responsibility of the CAMHs team, it is not. The emotional wellbeing of children and young people is everyone’s responsibility and partners in the health, social care, education and third sector are working together towards a vision that all children and young people can access the support they need to achieve emotional wellbeing and mental health. This is known as the whole system approach.

The National Autistic Society have a role in developing this and we welcome an open dialogue with them to ensure the whole system is fit for purpose and our young people are given the most appropriate help by the most appropriate service in a timely manner.

We have attached a briefing which explains in more detail the whole systems approach and the huge amount of work that has been done by ourselves and our partners.

We would urge anyone with any concerns about the care provided to them by our Trust to contact our patient experience team on 01228 602128 or email <a href="mailto:PET@cumbria.nhs.uk"><strong>PET@cumbria.nhs.uk</strong></a>