Children and adolescent mental health services review and recommendation

The aim of this review is to repeat the April 2014 Healthwatch Rotherham report so that comparisons can be made. The first three methodologies were purposely designed to collect the views of the citizens of Rotherham and were triangulated to draw overall themes and ideas. This report has been produced to affect change within Rotherham’s CAMHS. They were also used in the 2014 report. The final methodology was added as it allowed more direct personal interaction over a sustained period of time.

In all of the scenarios presented apart from one, improvement has been made in terms of those strongly agreeing on the statements presented. Though most statements are still showing a net result of people disagreeing with the statements which involve interpersonal interaction between staff and families, and it is in these areas that issues exist. The responses when broken down show, in the main, improvement for the mental health service pathway. Those on the autism pathway have generally shown dissatisfaction with the service offered and received. It is the strong number of respondents on the autism pathway that are affecting the net result of people disagreeing with the statements. In terms of the free text it can be concluded that there is a high level of dissatisfaction with the autism service provided by CAMHS, reiterating the findings in the 2014 survey. The attendees felt that parents were not part of CAMHS processes, but they want to be and feel they need to actively work together. They do not feel listened to or valued, their strengths and knowledge of their child are not acknowledged. When they are in the system then they generally feel the service works well for the family, but they have difficulties entering the service. A difference exists between autism and mental health in terms of the experiences received. Generally, those on the autism pathway respond with negative experiences and those using mental health services respond, in the main, a lot more positively. More positive comments were received this time than in the previous 2014 report.

The report has shown that a differences exist between the experiences of those on the mental health pathway and those on the autism pathway. The mental health pathway has shown improved results since the last report. The autism pathway has received a lot of negative responses and those negative responses have affected the overall results of the data collected.