Report on feedback to Healthwatch Richmond regarding Richmond CAMHS services

Healthwatch Richmond were invited to work in collaboration with Richmond SEND Family Voice (RSFV), ADHD Richmond and Richmond National Autistic society (Richmond NAS) to collect the opinions of parents and schools on services they have received from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Richmond.

A survey was developed collaboratively including taking feedback from CAMHS and launched on the 18th May 2015, running until the 19th June 2015. The survey was circulated to Healthwatch Richmond’s membership alongside a number of voluntary sector organisations that support young people and parents and carers of young people that access CAMHS. The survey was also distributed via social media and displayed on the websites of both Healthwatch Richmond and Richmond SEND Family Voice. It was hoped that surveys could be distributed via CAMHS but this was not possible due to administrative challenges. A second survey aimed at schools was produced with RSFV aimed at gathering experiences of CAMHS from the perspective of those who refer into CAMHS. This was sent to the Head Teachers and SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators) through RSFV existing networks. Copies of the online surveys are included in appendix 1. This report presents the emerging themes arising from the qualitative responses and the quantitative responses to provide an overview of what respondents have said. It is not our intention to draw firm conclusions or recommendations from this report. We gained informed consent from all respondents to share the data. We hope that this data will be used to inform the 2016 CAMHS strategy, help shape CAMHS services, and inform future Healthwatch work around CAMHS.

The relatively modest sample limited the extent to which it was meaningful to view the data on the basis of Tiers. The method of data collection may have caused bias due to the networks used. This bias could have been decreased by direct distribution of the survey to parent carers by CAMHS. Whilst this would have led to a more balanced sample this was not possible due to the administrative capacity of the service.

The key findings identified in this report are taken from a patient, carer, parent and a representative from a school's perspective. These limitations aside, the data collected still represents the views and experiences of a significant number of parent carers and allied professionals. The feedback we have received highlights the need for better communication between CAMHS, outside agencies and service users, as well as the need to improve prescriptions and the environment at Richmond Royal. Additionally there is a need to continue to collect the experiences of service users of the trust to inform future service development and improvement.