Funding of £10.83 million has been allocated for the remainder of this year to help improve access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) across North Ayrshire and Scotland.
The investment will also increase the numbers of trained professionals to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs and mental health issues.
The allocation is part the of the SNP Government’s £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, and will help to deliver a number of improvements, including:
Improved access to CAMHS assessments out of hours
Help to put in place specialist regional CAMHS services including those with learning disabilities and those requiring secure care
Better access to CAMHS Intensive Home Treatment Teams
Support mental health liaison teams within paediatric services
The Recovery and Renewal Fund supports many of the mental health measures contained in the Programme for Government. Other policies include extra support for health and care staff, the commitment to recruit 800 additional mental health workers this year and a pledge that at least 10% of frontline NHS spending will go towards mental health over this parliament.
This funding will support further implementation of the National CAMHS Services Specification, and will help to build professional capacity in Health Boards to support the implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards, published last week.
Kenneth Gibson MSP commented:
“The SNP Government wants to ensure Scotland is the best place to grow up.
“While education, eradicating child poverty and physical health are important, neurodiversity can be a challenge for anyone and we must insure the proper support for our children and young people is in place.
“We know that some redesign of services and redirection of funds towards mental health was necessary and I am confident that this £10.8 million will make a world of difference to young people’s lives.”
The full year allocation of the £18.75 million from the Recovery and Renewal Fund is as follows:
£5.25 million to support the implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards
3.3 million for CAMHS Intensive Psychiatric Care Units (IPCUs)
£3 million for CAMHS Intensive Home Treatment Teams
£1.2 million for Specialist Regional CAMHS services for those with learning disabilities, and those requiring secure care.
£2 million to provide access to Child and Adolescent Psychiatric assessments out of hours.
£3 million for CAMHS Liaison Services within paediatric services
£1 million for Data gathering, research and evaluation.
ENDS
