The targeted early intervention service provides the opportunity to improve the outcomes for children and young people with moderate mental health problems. It was commissioned in response to strategic priority 5 of the Derbyshire and Derby Future in Mind plan. Our aim was to consolidate, stabilise and strengthen our offer to children, young people and families based on feedback from existing service provision and learning to date. The service was intended to support those children who need more specialist support than can be provided by schools, primary care, local authorities and more general services for children in communities, but who do not meet current specialist CAMHS thresholds. The intention was to provide short evidence-informed interventions as needs emerge to improve outcomes and reduce the need for future more intensive CAMHS interventions and reduce the likelihood of them developing a more serious mental health condition because of the timely support they will receive.
NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden and GEM CSU) on behalf of the Derbyshire CCGs including NHS North Derbyshire CCG (who is acting as lead Commissioner for this process), NHS Hardwick CCG, NHS Erewash CCG and NHS Southern Derbyshire CCG invited suitably qualified providers capable of delivering a Derbyshire wide (including Derby City), targeted early intervention service to address children and young people’s mental health for 0-17 years old who are registered with member GP Practices of NHS Southern Derbyshire, Hardwick, Erewash and North Derbyshire CCGs for which they are the responsible commissioner.
The service contributes to the Future in Mind Vision in Derbyshire that ‘Children and young people are able to achieve positive emotional health by having access to high quality, local provision, appropriate to their need, as well as a range of support enabling self-help, recovery and well-being’.
The service will deliver:
— improvement/stabilisation in the mental health of children and young people who are referred to the service,
— improvement in the support to parents and carers (parents will report that they are better/able to help their child as a result of the support they received).
The overall ambition was for there to be provision across Derby and Derbyshire offered in communities for 0-17 years and skill mix to meet a wide range of needs.
The overall aim of the targeted early intervention service was to deliver targeted ‘direct work’ with children and young people and their families that will improve/manage the young person’s mental health and well-being, and provide them with tools so that, as far as possible, they are enabled to maintain and improve their own mental well-being.
The service aims to ensure that children and young people are prevented from moving to higher levels of needs and, wherever possible, their prevailing levels of need also reduce.