Future in Mind: Leeds
Download (PDF 6.7 MB)Summary of report content
In 2015, Healthwatch Leeds in partnership with YoungMinds published the report ‘Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services in Leeds; Conversations with young people, parents and professionals’.
In 2016, Healthwatch Leeds (supported by Common Room) were commissioned by NHS Leeds South and East CCG to get an up to date snapshot of the views and experiences of young people, parents* and professionals. The target group were those who had referred to, or accessed mental health and wellbeing services in Leeds in the last 6 months. This report looks at overall experiences of services, with a particular focus on the changes made as a result of the Future in Mind: Leeds strategy, priorities and Local Transformation Plan (LTP)
During autumn 2016, Healthwatch gathered experiences about children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing service provision across Leeds. They combination of surveys and workshops. 126 young people, 59 parents and 120 professionals completed the surveys. 6 parents and 9 young people attended the respective workshops.
The following findings and recommendations focus on the whole system of mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people in Leeds, and are targeted at commissioners of services.
Keey findings
- There is an overall trend toward Improvements to waiting times, particularly within specialist CAMHS. 54 (81%) young people said that they had waited 12 weeks or less.
- Young people and families were generally not aware of the MindMate website.
- There is a lack of awareness amongst young people and parents of MindMate Single Point of Access (SPA).
- The introduction of MindMate SPA has been welcomed by professionals but there is room for improvement in terms of communication with referrers and parents.
- Family and friends were a vital source of support for children and young people who were waiting to access or using services.
The report contains five recommendations about improving awareness of and access to mental health services for children and young people.