(CAMHS) and Schools - London Health Programmes

3.9 Resources spent on working with schools
In the questionnaire, respondents were asked to estimate the proportion of their
resources spent on working in schools. Many commented that this was difficult but
107 (70%) did make estimates. Just over half of these CAMHS spent less than 10% of
their resources on work in schools, and the average is 15%. This is higher than found
in studies elsewhere (Audit Commission, 1999).
Table 6: Resources spent on work in schools
Percentage of resources spent on work in
schools
Number of
CAMHS
0-5 29
6-10 26
11-15 14
16-20 14
21-25 5
26 + 19
Total 107
Average 15
No response/ unable to estimate 45
Many of the respondents highlighted resource issues as a problem, especially those
that are a small service. The main reason cited for not working in schools was not
having the time or funding to do so. One respondent commented that working on
projects in schools had detracted from their core work and had led to an increase in
waiting list, and low morale within the service.
79% of the CAMHS who reported working in schools are using core funding 28% are
using project funding (12% are using a combination of both). Many were linked to
other initiatives including Sure Start (52), Health Action Zones or Health
Improvement Strategies (30) Education Action Zones (24) and Healthy Schools (22),
Connexions (18) and Excellence in Cities (5). Other initiatives mentioned were
CAMHS modernisation (5), On Track (3), Quality Protects (2), SRB and social
inclusion.
3.10 Summary of key findings from chapter 3
CAMHS structures are very different across England, and it is hard to get an overall
picture of the scale and pattern of the work they are doing with schools. For example,
they cover different sizes of geographical area, may be based in clinical or community
settings.
The majority of CAMHS services which responded to the survey did some work with
schools (89%). Within this, was a wide variety of practice and structures. The most
common form of work was consultation and support to school staff, often on a case
by case basis with children who had been referred to their service. Other support to
school staff was consulting on behaviour, training and supervision to a range of
school based staff, and contributing to health promotion activities.