1. Wirral CAMHS Advice Line Update
Early Help Network Workshop
14th and 18th May 2018

2. Recent Developments
Recent developments in CAMHS have been led by 2 main national strategies:
Future in Mind Strategy, 2015; investment to transform services, not do more of the same in children’s mental health. Mental health is everyone’s business and we need to skill the whole of the children’s workforce to support children with their mental health. Early intervention, prevention and building resilience is better than cure.
Crisis Care – children’s specialist mental health services need to be 24/7

3. What you told us you wanted….
All schools were visited by their PMHW and asked what they wanted
Schools wanted – to know where to signpost to, mental health training, resources and access to immediate advice
So we developed a resource pack, training programme, on-line resources and set up an Advice Line (9am – 5pm)

4. Wirral CAMHS Advice Line – Activity
In the last year (April – March 2017/18) the Wirral Advice line has provided consultation to 1595 callers. Demand for the line has grown steadily month by month since it launched, with the only noticeable reductions in demand during school holidays, see Figure 1.

5. Advice Line – Who phones?
The main themes of the qualitative feedback given were:
Feeling understood and listened to.
Receiving good quality advice.
Feeling reassured.
Signposting.
When it was first launched GPs and parents were the most frequent callers, then in December 2016 education staff began to use it significantly more. This trend continued until March 2017 when consultations received from parents/grandparents more than doubled the amount of calls received by any other staff group, and this trend has continued

6. Out of Hours Advice Line
From 1st April 2018 the Advice line extended its hours to 10pm weekdays and 12-8 weekends and bank holidays. The Out of Hours service is delivered by a designated team, which is trust wide across Chester, East Cheshire and Wirral
The Out of Hours Service provides:
Easy & timely access to mental health advice
Support of existing care plans
Support, signposting, de-escalation, reassurance & containment.
Reduction in presentation at A&E and admittance to paediatric wards

7. Wirral CAMHS Advice Line
The Advice Line is open Monday-Friday 9am – 10 pm, weekends and bank holidays pm staffed by experienced CAMHS practitioners. It is for anyone supporting young people (including parents, education & social care staff, GPs & other health professionals) to call for any advice about concerns they might have in regards to a Child or Young Person’s mental health.

8. Out of Hours Advice Line and Risk Assessments
The next phase (once permanent staff within post potentially June ‘18):
Weekend Risk Assessments on the children’s wards across the 4 acute hospitals across the trust
The Out of Hours Advice Line and Weekend Risk Assessments will provide:
Timely CAMHS Risk Assessments
Reduced stress for children, young people and their parents/carers
Reduced time in paediatric beds

9. Thank-You
Any questions?