DEMAND for specialist mental health services for children and teenagers is rocketing - with referrals shooting skywards over the last five years. But expert help across the area is failing to keep pace with the need for appointments for vulnerable under 18s as they deal with a range of issues including anxiety, stress, depression and self harm. Over the next three days, the Evening Mail will bring you an exclusive look at the state of Cumbria’s Children and Adolescent’s Mental Health Services as professionals battle to provide suitable help for everyone in need.

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<a href="http://www.nwemail.co.uk/News/Barrow/Cumbria-child-mental-health-service-blasted-cabf664b-910f-45f3-b2b0-575b1d9d2b00-ds"><strong>Cumbria child mental health service blasted</strong></a>

FALLING spending levels and increased waiting times for appointments for mental health services could be putting the lives of children at risk.

Cash spent on specialist help for youngsters with moderate to severe problems across the area dropped by more than £500,000 last year, the Evening Mail can reveal.

The news comes despite lengthy waiting times for appointments and claims of a crisis within the county’s specialist Tier 3 Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service.

The total spent on providing expert help and support for vulnerable under 18s as they struggle against behavioural disorders, self harm, depression and suicidal thoughts for the 2014/15 year was £3.383m.

But information gained under the Freedom of Information Act found this figure had actually fallen from £3.944m spent during the previous year – despite rising demands on the service and consultants dealing with higher average caseloads annually since 2012.

Extra information acquired under the information laws show clinicians are struggling to keep pace with demand for appointments with each responsible for around 50 cases in 2012 – rising to 60 cases last year.

But bosses within the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – the organisation that provides Barrow’s Tier 3 Camhs – say the difficulties in providing a specialist service are not unique to Cumbria and that a raft of improvements are under way.

Dr Sara Munro, director of nursing and quality for CPFT, acknowledged the system is under strain, with referrals to specialist clinicians in Barrow going up 100 per cent in the past five years while the recruitment of specialists remains a key issue.

Another factor has been a lack of early and available help for young people experiencing problems – such as anxiety and stress – at Tier 2.

Dr Munro added last year’s spending represents the first drop since 2010 and was due in part to a specialist government grant coming to an end.

“Our children and young people deserve better support,” she told the Evening Mail.

“We have made the improvements we can with the resources we have and we will continue to address the challenges with partners at the highest level, champion the whole system approach and support awareness raising within our community.

“But there needs to be urgent national recognition that more support is needed to meet the growing and changing emotional wellbeing needs of our children.”

Specialist Camhs provision, offered from Barrow’s Fairfield Centre, in Fairfield Lane, has been the subject of heavy criticism for more than five years from health leaders and senior county officials.

During that time two children referred to the service for help have died – Dalton 10-year-old Harry Hucknall, in 2010, and 15-year-old former Windermere School pupil Helena Farrell in 2013.

Repeated warnings that the service is failing children and teenagers and must improve to ensure the safety of future young people have been issued – with two serious case reviews being published by Cumbria County Council and former coroner for south and east Cumbria Ian Smith writing to the government last year to warn of its inadequacies.

In December, doctors across the area were informed of the continuing pressures on the service within a letter from CPFT leaders.

A CPFT spokesman said: “There remains a significant risk regarding the difficulty in recruiting to psychiatry posts and this does reflect the national picture.

“This creates a number of challenges in respect of the ability of the service to respond both in and out of working hours to young people in crisis, and work has begun to look towards developing a service delivery model that also works alongside routine Camhs care.

“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 while they are on the waiting list - offering them other means of support and advice. The work addressing inappropriate referrals will also help alleviate this.”

Children’s champion for Cumbria, county Councillor Ann Burns, said ensuring the safety of children and young people was one of the most important issues in the area – and that work was on-going to bring extra help and solutions forward.

“We need to keep these children safe,” she said.

“It’s vital we do whatever we can do to make sure children don’t suffer in silence and are able to talk to someone if they are feeling down.

“I can totally understand the worries of parents who want to know the help their child needs is available when they need it.

“As an authority, we are working with the partnership trust to provide early help to make sure we don’t allow any of these children to slip through the net.”

<u>Factfile</u>

Mental health services for children and teenagers are divided into four tiers;

Tier 1 General help and advice provided by non-specialists such as GPs, school nurses, social workers and voluntary youth organisations.

Tier 2 Psychologists and counsellors working within schools and the community.

Tier 3 Specialist, clinician-led Camhs for children and young people with moderate to acute mental health needs. Provided by Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust and operated from the Fairfield Centre, in Fairfield Lane, Barrow.

Tier 4 Highly specialised inpatient beds for youngsters considered to be at greatest risk. Not available in Cumbria.

1057 referrals were made to Tier 3 Camhs last year - up 100 per cent in the last five years

£3.3 million spent on specialist Camhs for children and teenagers - up 33 per cent overall in five years but down by half a million pounds last year

87.5 per cent of those needed urgent appointments were seen within 48 hours in May

71.4 per cent of those needing routine appointments were seen within 35 days - up from just 30 per cent in June last year

IF you want to share your experience of dealing with CAMHS or other services in the area, then please contact Caroline Barber or Jonathan Robinson on 01229 840150.