Mental health services for children in West Dunbartonshire are to be shaken up under plans to help improve access to vital support.
The services will now be run by East Dunbartonshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to create a "single management system".
The budget of Specialist Children’s Services Child (SCS), which is made up of CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) as well as Specialist Community Pediatrics Teams (SCPT) services and is worth £1.5m, will be transferred to the neighbouring local authority.
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A ‘hosted service model' where one partnership manages services across the whole of the NHSGGC area on behalf of others, will now be established.
The aim is to provide a more efficient service and support the delivery of “small-scale and specialist services”. Mental health support and advice available in West Dunbartonshire including CAMHS will still be delivered by existing teams.
A report was presented to members of the West Dunbartonshire HSCP last week.
During the meeting an officer said that the goal of the realignment of services is to give health boards more flexibility to continue to respond to the “significant service demand challenges.”
They said: “Children and young people and their families are experiencing considerable high levels of need for support currently and we have no reason to expect that is likely to diminish in the immediate term.”
Councillor Martin Rooney said: “On the face of it, this seems like a really good thing to do to try and maximise the specialist children’s services by putting them in a single team and making use of all our resources.
“I understand that East Dunbartonshire has been successful in a number of areas in this.
“Can we get some indication on what we think the benefits will be of us moving our mental health service underneath the single team.”
An officer advised that a smaller service system would provide more flexibility to respond to the needs and issues within local communities.
They said: “We also expect that we will be able to enhance our ability to roll out quality improvement and change activities and ideas in a more guaranteed universal way so there can be a more consistent approach to that.”
Julie Metcalf, clinical director for CAMHS, said the proposals would help staff get access to the correct training so they can deliver the appropriate care.
She added: “This is about making sure that our staff right across the board are gaining access to training that they need to deliver care. Feedback from clinical staff shows that they think the realignment will be helpful and are keen on maintaining the links that exist in local areas.
“That is a priority for us at senior management level as well as for the staff on the ground.”
Following the meeting a HSCP spokesperson said: “In order to enhance efficiency and sustainability across Specialist Children’s Services in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, a single management and financial structure is being put in place.
“This will not change local service delivery and all services will continue to be delivered locally by existing HSCP teams.”
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