The NHS has announced a new taskforce that will improve current specialist children and young people’s inpatient mental health, autism and learning disability services in England, providing the strongest possible safety net for families living with the most acute conditions, with rapid improvements to come in the next 18 months.
They plan to replicate the success of hospitals like Ferndene in Northumberland, where young people arrive at the hospital in a crisis and staff immediately focus on equipping them with the skills they need to manage elsewhere and hold a daily meeting with everyone involved in a child's care to ensure no one stays longer than they need to. Delivery teams will be made up of doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals who will support the young person to quickly build resilience so that they can manage in community services.
Anne Longfield OBE, Children’s Commissioner for England, will chair an independent oversight board that will oversee the taskforce. A panel of clinician’s charities and experts will review current provision and ultimately identify the best practice to improve safety and quality. The group will track delivery and provide challenge.
The oversight board will have wide-ranging scope to track progress and propose rapid improvements in existing services, examine the best approach to complex issues such as inappropriate care, out of area placements, length of stays and oversee the development of genuine alternatives to care, closer to home.
The taskforce comes as part of a package of measures in the NHS Long Term Plan to ensure that all NHS services operate at safe and effective levels, as well as plans to transform mental health, autism and learning disability services for the better.
I am proud of how the NHS is doing its bit to protect, nurture and empower all our children and young people to live healthy and happy lives. This taskforce is an important next step.