Our unique Ask the Board Online facility allows anyone to make a comment or ask a question to the board using this form.
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Name:
Ian Syme
Date:
October 11, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Comment / Suggestion / Question:
Darwin Centre; CAMHS 4w waits; CAMHS 18w RTT.
Trust Board Papers highlight the extreme challenges in recruitment and retention of clinical staff that have obvious implications for service provided by the Trust.
a. Does the Trust expect to recruit to all vacancies at the Darwin Centre within this fiscal year?
b. How many CYP at present waiting longer than 18w on the CAMHS RTT pathway? Does the Trust have a ‘date’ whereby the the requisite standard re CAMHS 18w RTT will be achieved and hopefully sustained?
c. Similar to b. Above CAMHS 4w (Refer to Assessment), Does Combined have a target ‘date’ when this standard will be achieved and hopefully sustained?
Our response:
Trust Board Papers highlight the extreme challenges in recruitment and retention of clinical staff that have obvious implications for service provided by the Trust.
a. Does the Trust expect to recruit to all vacancies at the Darwin Centre within this fiscal year?
There have been a number of vacancies at the Darwin Centre for some time, similar to most inpatient mental health units. These have historically included Consultant, Registered Nursing and Healthcare Support Worker roles. The unit has 15 beds for children and young people requiring inpatient Mental Health care and is commissioned by NHS England as a specialist service. The service has seen an uplift in its funded staffing complement over the last 18 months as a result of additional investment and on paper this has sought to increase the number of vacancies that the Trust is recruiting to via the addition of new roles.
The Trust is making every effort to recruit to the vacant posts and has made excellent progress with Healthcare Support Worker roles. For these roles, the Trust expects to be fully established by the end of the fiscal year. The unit has also historically had Consultant Psychiatrist vacancy, which has been filled this year on a substantive basis by a newly qualified Consultant who trained with the Trus, so this post is also now filled along with a new Specialty Doctor role that has also been appointed to.
The area the Trust will continue to struggle to recruit to is for Registered Mental Health Nurses (RMNs), for which there is a known local and national shortage. The Trust is making every effort to recruit to these roles via active campaigns and in parallel increase the number of trainees in this area to ensure there is a future pipeline of staff qualifying for these roles.
b. How many CYP at present waiting longer than 18w on the CAMHS RTT pathway? Does the Trust have a ‘date’ whereby the requisite standard re CAMHS 18w RTT will be achieved and hopefully sustained?
As of 1st November 2021, there are 11 out of 180 children and young people on the Trust’s waiting list who have waited longer than 18 weeks for the commencement of treatment for their mental health. This is actively managed and monitored on a daily basis by the CAMHS community teams. The 12 month trend of our compliance with the 95% 18 week RTT standard for CAMHS services specifically is detailed in the table below. We are confident regarding the continued achievement of this standard.
c. Similar to b. Above CAMHS 4w (Refer to Assessment), Does Combined have a target ‘date’ when this standard will be achieved and hopefully sustained?
As of 1st November 2021, 23 out of 105 children and young people on the Trust’s waiting list have waited longer than 4 weeks for their initial full assessment as to their mental health needs. Again, this is actively managed and monitored by CAMHS teams. The 12 month trend of our compliance with the 4 week standard is detailed in the table below. This is a challenging standard due to timescales and demand on our CAMHS services. This is also not currently a statutory standard (unlike 18 weeks) however the Trust considers this important and therefore continues to report compliance with the target. The Trust is less confident on continued achievement of this standard on a monthly basis given increasing demands but will continue to make every effort to monitor, achieve and report the position against this.
Name:
Michelle Craggs
Date:
June 27, 2021 at 12:07 pm
Comment / Suggestion / Question:
Can you please explain the role of the QB testing for ADHD patients? At the moment I’m hearing parenting saying this is used as a diagnostic tool. Which is what it’s not intended to
Our response:
Liz Mellor explained that QB testing was one of a number of screening tools used which formed part of the decision making process for diagnosis. Liz Mellor confirmed it was a tool the Trust used alongside others to form the assessment.
Name:
Maureen Roberts
Date:
January 2, 2022 at 4:29 pm
Comment / Suggestion / Question:
The 25 gardeners who remain at Kniveden will under the terms of the present consultation will be forced to leave Kniveden the week commencing 17th of January.
Can I please ask what provision has been made for the future
Of clients,and what will replace the respite for the carers once Kniveden is closed to them
Our response:
Name:
Geraldine Casey
Date:
January 4, 2022 at 3:52 pm
Comment / Suggestion / Question:
4th January 2022
To whom it may concern,
My Question is why is Kniveden closing to the current attendees? My son attends Kniveden and has benefited greatly from his time there. The gardening work has increased his self-esteem, confidence and helped him to keep his mental health stable. He has made friendships with his peers who support each other during their time there. The leaders at Kniveden are professional and caring in their approach to the clients. My son has severe enduring mental health problems and has spent long periods of time in the Harplands and community hospital Summer View and Florence house. Now stable for 8 years and living independently in shared housing. The recovery model has always been central to his treatment plan. Contrary to disabling him Kniveden has helped him to remain stable and happy. As a carer I am very concerned about the changes at Kniveden and the effect this will have on him, attendees and carers.
Yours sincerely
Geraldine Casey (Mrs)
Our response:
Name:
Jean Amison
Date:
January 6, 2022 at 5:48 pm
Comment / Suggestion / Question:
Why wasn’t all our hospitals each given designation of being either Covid or non Covid status so that normal NHS duties & operation backlogs could continue to operate in some. This would better utilise the time of staff who did not work on Covid wards.
