Care In the community and Mental health.

Care In the community and Mental health.

The Government is becoming interestingly aware of and concerned about the identification and treatment of mental health issues in British schools. A recent report by the House of Commons sought to outline some of the issues and offered some suggested next steps. The launch of this report and the subsequent UK newspaper reporting on the issues surrounding it suggests that there is likely to be a greatly increased demand for specialised services with some knowledge of Mental Health issues in schools going forward   The Learning Station provides Health and Social Care courses with pathways into Mental Health Care, this is a large area of concern within the social services, and they always struggle to find the placements as well as the experienced and passionate staff – so if you are looking for work, look no further this id a huge industry with many care establishments always looking for staff.   One in four people on average experience a mental health problem, with the majority of these beginning in childhood it was noted in the report (the full version is at file:///C:/Users/PC5/Downloads/CBP-7196.pdf) A report by the Chief Medical Officer of the UK Government in 2014 found that 50 per cent of adult mental health problems start before the age of 15 and 75 per cent before the age of 18. The 2010 Government committed to improving mental health for children and young people, as part of their commitment to achieving “parity of esteem” between physical and mental health, and to improving the lives of children and young people. These efforts were mainly lead by and championed by the leader of the Conservative's Party's collation partners the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg who has since lost his seat in the Houses of Parliament in the 2015 election. The Government's 2011 Mental Health strategy 'No Health without Mental Health' pledged to provide early support for mental health problems.  The introduction to this report stated that: by promoting good mental health and intervening early, particularly in the crucial childhood and teenage years, we can help to prevent mental illness from developing and mitigate its effects when it does. However the reports remit was wide ranging and covered not only young people's mental health issues but those of the population as a whole. The Implementation Framework for this strategy, in effect guidance regarding how the recommendations and discussion points within the 2011 report would actually be implemented, published in July 2012, described how different bodies, such as schools, employers and local authorities, should work together to support people's mental health. It recommended that schools promote children and young people's wellbeing and mental health. The subsequent development of this Deputy Prime Minister's (Clegg) 2014 strategy 'Closing the Gap: priorities for essential change in mental health' included actions such as improving access to psychological therapies for children and young people. This outlined areas for immediate change to improve mental health care, including specific commitments for children and young people. There will be improved access to psychological therapies for children and young people across the whole of England, so that early access to treatment is available. The government has invested in a psychological therapies programme for children and young people, and aims for this to be available throughout England by 2018. The Department of Health and NHS England established a Child and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce which reported in March 2015 and set out ambitions for improving care over the next five years. The 'Future in Mind' report (March 2015) set ambitions for improving care over the next five years, including making better links between schools and specialist services. Key objectives include

• No Health without Mental Health; A cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages.
• tackling stigma and improving attitudes to mental illness
• introducing more access and waiting time standards for services  
• establishing 'one stop shop' support services in the community
• Improving access for children and young people who are particularly vulnerable.

There has also been a drive to improve the provision of mental health support in schools.  In June 2014, the Department for Education published guidance for schools on identifying and supporting pupils who may have mental health problems. In March 2015, the Department of Health provided schools with practical, evidence-based advice on how to deliver high-quality school based counselling. In August 2015, the Department for Education appointed the first ever mental health champion for schools to help raise awareness and reduce the stigma around young people's mental health. There have been calls for teaching on mental health to be introduced as a mandatory subject on the national. Following a consultation in 2013, the Department for Education confirmed that mental health teaching would remain optional to give schools flexibility. In August 2014, Sam Gyimah, in his then capacity as Minister for Childcare, was formally given the role of strengthening Department for Education links with child and adolescent mental health services   The Government said that their ambition is for access and waiting time standards to be implemented for all mental health services by 2020. With regard to waiting time standards for children and young people, then Minister for Care Services Norman Lamb said: The vision is for comprehensive standards to be developed over the coming years for all ages, including for children and young people.

• In December 2014 – Deputy PM announces £150m investment to transform treatment for eating disorders
• In August 2014 – First ever NHS waiting time standards for mental health announced
• In March 2015 the Government published a blueprint for school counselling services, which provides schools with practical, evidence based advice on how to deliver high-quality school based counselling
• In February 2015, the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, announced an investment of £8.5 million for new schemes to provide 7 Department of Health and NHS England, Future in Mind: promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people's mental health and wellbeing
• In the March 2015 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £1.25 billion of additional investment in mental health. £1 billion will be provided over the next five years to start new access standards for children and adolescent services, which the Government anticipate will see 110,000 more children cared for over the next Parliament. The Government have also committed to investing £118 million by 2018-19 to complete the roll-out of the Children and Young People's IAPT programme, to ensure talking therapies are available throughout England. Alongside this, £75 million will be provided between 2015 and 2020 to provide perinatal and antenatal mental health support for women. The Department for Education will also invest £1.5 million to pilot joint training for designated leads in CAMHS services and schools to improve access to mental health services for children and young people
• The PSHE Association published guidance, funded by the Department for Education, on providing age-appropriate teaching about mental health problems. The Association will also be publishing a set of lesson plans spanning key stage 1 to key stage 4 which will be available for schools to use by September 2015
• In August 2015, it was announced that £75 million will also be allocated to support CCGs to work with local partners to develop local transformation plans, which will overhaul mental health services for children and young people in their areas
• NHS England has published how tranches of funding will be spent on children and young people's mental health services (http://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/08/03/cyp-mh-prog-launch).
• With the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the Department of Health is commissioning the first national survey of children and young people's mental health since 2004.Final publication is expected in 2018. The findings of the survey will help identify where best to target improvements