New 24/7 Crisis Response Team For Children And Young People

Children and young people across Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire who are experiencing a mental health crisis can now access around the clock support.

Towards the end of last year, five health and local government organisations outlined a shared commitment to transform emotional health and wellbeing services to make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG, Humber NHS Foundation Trust, Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council welcomed the Government’s ‘Future in Mind’ initiative which includes £1 million of funding for local services.

Together the organisations developed detailed transformational plans that were approved by NHS England and are being put into action. One of the service priorities was the establishment of a new dedicated CAMHS Crisis Team to support children and young people in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

David Hill, Chief Executive, Humber NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We started running a limited service ten weeks ago and we have received some really positive feedback from children and young people, parents and carers as well as other health and social care professionals.”

During the day referrals to the Crisis Team will be made through the existing CAMHS service (contact point) and at night through a new single point of contact by calling 01482 335600.

The team is made up of twelve registered mental health nurses with significant experience in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). They will support children and young people suffering severe emotional distress in appropriate settings that meet the need of the young person; this may include in their home, school or GP Practice.

“We are delighted that this team is now up and running. We have faced a number of challenges on the way to getting here but with the support of our partners, we are now able to offer a robust crisis response”, said David.

“The aim of this service is to prevent children and young people from hospital attendance or admission if no medical intervention is required, keeping them at home with their families. In turn, this will reduce the pressure on other teams within CAMHS and allow staff to focus on promotion of mental health in community and primary care settings and identifying problems earlier in development.”

In line with the priorities identified in the shared vision to transform young people’s mental health services, the organisations involved are focussed on improving waiting times, establishing a new community-based eating disorder service and exploring options in anticipation of the NHS England-led procurement of additional specialist inpatient (Tier 4) CAMHS in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Jane Hawkard, Chief Officer, East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group said:

“We are delighted the dedicated crisis service is now fully operational 24/7 after all the hard work demonstrated by Humber NHS Foundation Trust and both CCGs over the last year.

“Now, not only will we see improved outcomes for children in crisis, the new service will ease the pressure on core CAMHS services to improve access and waiting times and enable earlier intervention.”

Emma Latimer, Chief Officer, NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group said:

“The launch of the new 24/7 community crisis response is an important step in the transformation of
emotional health and wellbeing services that will be welcomed by families and organisations who work with children and young people across our local area.

“We are all committed to working together to improve young lives. The new team will work closely with existing services, reaching out to more young people and their families to help them cope through a crisis.”