Community children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) will receive major boosts to funding, a follow up report to in the Five Year Forward View for mental health said.
CAMHS will be given an extra £214million by 2020, in order to treat 70,000 more children and young people, who will be seen in community settings. Community eating disorder services will receive an additional £30million by 2020, in order to ensure that 95% of children in need receive treatment within one week for urgent cases, and four weeks for routine cases.
‘Over the past 30 years, mental health services have undergone a radical transformation, and in many areas have gone further in developing multi-disciplinary, community-based alternatives to hospital than any other part of the health system,’ said Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health.
Perinatal mental health services are also receiving an additional £365million. This money will be used to create a £60million perinatal community development. This fund will form specialist teams, with a particular focus on areas under capacity. NHS England has said that this will help 30,000 more women give birth by 2020.
Funding will also be provided to train primary care staff in basic mental health. The report stated that 42% of practice nurses reported that they had received no mental health training. Additionally, to strengthen mental health services in primary care, 3000 therapists will be recruited to these settings.
‘The integration of services across the health system and for all ages is crucial to deliver improvements for mental health and wellbeing,’ said Peter Kinderman, president of the British Psychological Society. ‘The proposal to locate mental health therapists in primary care services is a step in the right direction.’