NHS taskforce to transform children’s mental health services

Simon Stevens has announced that a new taskforce will be set up to improve current specialist children and young people’s inpatient mental health, autism and learning disability services.

The NHS Long Term Plan contains a particular focus on boosting community services and reducing the over reliance on inpatient care, with these more intensive services significantly improved and more effectively joined up with schools and councils.

Specialist taskforce delivery teams will be made up of doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals. The group will be asked to consider the best way to deliver compassionate care for acute need – including reviewing independent sector and NHS provision – including giving nurses and other staff the right clinical expertise and managing issues like seclusion and segregation in inpatient settings.

The NHS England chief executive also revealed that Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, will chair an independent oversight board to scrutinise and support the work of the taskforce, with the NHS providing her with wide-ranging scope to track progress and propose rapid improvements in existing services.

Stevens said: “This taskforce will place a spotlight on services and care for some of the most vulnerable young people in our society, bringing together families, leading clinicians, charities, and other public bodies to help make these services as effective, safe and supportive as possible for thousands of families.

“The NHS Long Term Plan lays out a package of measures which will mean more than two million extra children and adults get the mental health care they need and while early intervention to stop ill health escalating is a priority, we are also determined to provide the strongest possible safety net for families living with the most acute conditions.”

Longfield said: “Research published by my office earlier this year found that far too many children are stuck in hospital for months or even years when they do not need to be there. I am pleased that this taskforce has been announced to change this unacceptable situation, and I am delighted to Chair this Independent Oversight Group to amplify the voice of these children and their families, scrutinise progress and hold the system to account.”

Alongside treating acute conditions, the NHS Long Term Plan commits to delivering a £2.3 billion funding injection for community mental health services, as well as record-high investment in children’s care, to provide care for 345,000 extra young people and more than 370,000 adults with severe mental illness.