Concerns about Shropshire child mental health services raised with Health Secretary by Telford MP

Lucy Allan says she has been contacted by worried residents over child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) run by Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

She has now written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, saying staff shortages are a problem and that it has impacted on the trust’s ability to offer children’s mental health assessments.

However, the trust is claiming that national targets are being met and there are now no vacant staff posts within CAMHS.

In her letter, Ms Allan has called on Mr Hancock to investigate the situation further.

She said: “This is of great concern to me and to the community in Telford who need to be able to access this vital service for their children.

“We are increasingly seeing mental health problems in children due to the rise of social media and bullying online.

“It is therefore crucial that the Midlands Partnership Foundation and the health ministers provide a solution to ensure that adequate services are on offer.

“The very least that can be done in the event of staff shortages is to find an alternative assessment centre.”

It emerged earlier this year that some children had been waiting up to two years for autism assessments to be completed.

Response

The Care Quality Commission also raised concerns following an inspection of the trust between February and April.

The watchdog said at the time of the inspection the trust had allocated no staff to assess people for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, meaning the waiting list was high and getting longer.

Last month the trust said it had recruited additional staff who were expected to be in place this month, and claimed progress would be made quickly once they were in post.

Health bosses say there are now no vacant staff posts within CAMHS and assessments are being delivered.

A joint statement issued by Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group says: “Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is meeting national targets to respond to crisis referrals to CAMHS within four hours.

“Urgent referrals are seen within 72 hours and routine referrals within four-to-six weeks.

“At the current time, there are no vacant staff posts within CAMHS (the BeeU partnership’s specialist service) in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin and the provision of timely assessments in general is being delivered.

“We recognise that in the past there was a cohort of young people suspected as having an autistic spectrum disorder that have experienced delays.

“We have been working together to develop and improve our service response for this cohort and in the coming weeks we will be further increasing capacity to address this and bring waiting times back to acceptable levels.

“In terms of local support, BeeU provides a range of mental health services for people up to the age of 25, including the drop-in centres in Wellington and Shrewsbury and online and text message-based support, alongside referrals to specialist services. More information can be found at https://beeu.org.uk.”