(CAMHS) and Schools - London Health Programmes

3 SCOPE AND NATURE OF CAMHS WORK IN SCHOOLS
3.1 Introduction
This section looks at the scope and nature of CAMHS work in schools in England,
and reports on responses from a questionnaire survey. As discussed in the
introduction, CAMHS have very different structures across the country. Up until
March 2002 CAMHS are commissioned by Health Authorities, but with NHS
reorganisation, on 1 st April 2002 arrangements changed and CAMHS are now
commissioned by the new Primary Care Trusts. The provision may be different in
each NHS Trust, for example some NHS Trusts may not have a CAMHS service at all
and commission services from other trusts, others may have a very large service
which may cover a whole Health Authority Area,others may cover a local authority
area. Some services are based in hospitals, others localised in community clinics or
settings. A mapping exercise is being conducted by the Department of Health. For
the purposes of this study it has meant that it is hard to get an accurate sample frame
for analysing the scope and nature of CAMHS services working with schools. A
questionnaire was sent to a list of CAMHS which had 309 addresses in England (the
list came from the Young Minds Directory). This was supplemented by telephone
follow up, at which point the researchers were referred to other agencies providing
CAMHS services. Some of the larger CAMHS services sent in several questionnaires
where their services are broken down into smaller geographical areas. For the
purposes of this research, these are treated as separate CAMH services as they report
on different service activity. In total 313 questionnaires were sent out and 171
questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 55%. The majority of the
CAMHS (89% - 152) who responded were carrying out work in supporting schools.
3.2 Settings for CAMHS work with schools
Table 1: Settings for CAMHS work with schools
(n=171, base = all responding CAMHS)
Setting
Number of Percentage
CAMHS *
Secondary schools 138 81
Primary schools 130 76
Special schools for children with emotional
123 72
and behavioural difficulties
Special schools for children with learning
89 52
difficulties
Early Years 68 40
Other special needs provision: including for
24 14
physically or sensory disabilities, language
support unit, autism, delicate
Pupil referral units, alternatives to schools** 25 15
Mainstream 16+ e.g. 6 th form, tertiary
9 5
colleges**
* respondents could mention more than one setting.
** respondents answered these in an ‘other’ category