Spotlight on Bee U, the 0-25 emotional health and wellbeing service in Shropshire

Healthwatch Shropshire sought feedback from people to understand their experiences of the Bee U Emotional Health and Wellbeing service. This work was carried out in two stages: in March 2018, after Healthwatch Shropshire became aware in that some families were feeling let down by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Shropshire; and later in Autumn 2018, following several changes to the services for young people’s emotional health and wellbeing (including CAMHS).

Themes from the feedback gathered included: concerns about service delivery, organisation, staffing and access; long waiting times; lack of continuity of care; concerns about appointment cancellations; poor information provision and communication from service providers.

Healthwatch Shropshire made four recommendations around: considering how to provide equitable access to face to face services across the county; ensuring patients and family are aware of the type of help available through each service within Bee U; considering how to provide timely responses to young people and families who are needing interim help while on the waiting list; setting up family and patient involvement groups to improve feedback channels. The report includes a response from the service provider.