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CAMHS & children’s cuts 2021

March 2021

The latest chapter of our fight for CAMHS services took place on 3 March 2021 when the Council voted to accept all cuts, but to keep back the £250,000 in an emergancy reserve for children’s mental health services. Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign member Barbara Veale put the following question to the full Council meeting. She was answered by Councillor Chris Barnham.  We have reprinted the question, a supplementary question and Chris Barnham’s answer here.

Representatives from the campaign have since met the Mayor and a gorup of Councillors to discuss the monitoring of children’s mental health and associated issues in the borough. 

Question from Barbara Veale

On behalf of the voiceless young people in Lewisham, and in the light of the overwhelming evidence pointing to a coming tsunami of mental health needs, will the Mayor/Council reconsider, even at this late stage, the decision to hold back the £250,000 of the Lewisham CAMHS contribution in 2021/2022 financial year?

The Council will be aware of the concerns raised by many Lewisham residents, and especially the parents/carers of young people with mental health needs.  Over 1,300 people have signed a petition published by the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign and have seen the documents produced which argues persuasively against the case for doing this. Will the Mayor/Council respond to the community concern and reinstate the £250,000 to the Lewisham CAMHS budget?

Reply from Councillor Barnham

CAMHS is an NHS service, provided by the South London and Maudsley Hospital. The Council contributes to it as a minor partner, and also supports a wide range of other services dedicated to supporting the emotional wellbeing and health of our children and young people. I strongly agree on the importance of this work, to which the Council has given a high priority under this administration since 2018.

It is widely acknowledged that the NHS has not always given sufficient priority to mental health. I am however pleased that in recent years our partnership with the local NHS has improved funding and waiting times. The overall funding for children and young people’s emotional and mental health services in Lewisham this year is £7.1m. This is an increase of £1,127m compared to the previous year, and a rise of 36% in three years. We expect funding to continue to improve: NHS England are increasing national funding levels to support children’s mental health annually up to 2023/24, although local allocations have not yet been confirmed.

Lewisham Council’s budget has unfortunately been cut by central government in real terms from over £400 million to £240 million. Given the scale of the funding crisis we face, it would be shortsighted to use the Council’s very limited funds to top up NHS funding for an NHS service. Instead, we aim to ensure that our young people have a better range of local services that offer support early, to avoid problems escalating and prevent more young people needing acute specialist interventions.

We have not in fact seen an increase in referrals to CAMHS over this year, but we have committed to a £250,000 contingency, in response to concerns about the impact the pandemic might have on children’s mental health. This money can be spent on mental health and wellbeing services if needed.

Looking ahead, we will continue to give young people’s mental health and wellbeing the highest priority, and campaign for better central government funding for NHS mental health services. We welcome the support of the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign in that.

Supplementary question from Barbara Veale

What systems do you plan to put in place to react speedily to the likely increase in children and young people presenting with mental health difficulties as schools and colleges reopen and what level of increase in referrals for the specialised CAMHS service, over and above that which currently exists, will trigger the release of the majority of the £250,000 contingency fund?

 

January/February 2021

 

SIGN OUR PETITION HERE
LABOUR PARTY MOTION HERE

UPDATE 22 FEBRUARY
On 3 February the Mayor and Cabinet decided to hold back £250,000 from Lewisham CAMHS, This decision will go to the full council meeting on 3rd March.

Read Bulletin 4  Our final pleas to Mayor Damien Egan download here

Read Bulletin 3 in response to arguments made at Public Accounts and Mayor and Cabinet meeting download here

Bulletin 2 in response to arguments put forward at Children and Young People’s Committee download here

Bulletin 1 Appendix to letter to Children and Young People’s Committee download here

 

We feel that more than anyone, the voice of a local mother will touch us all and remind us of the reality of what life is like for children and their families where the child is experiencing significant mental health issues and does not have access to the specialist support that they so desperately  need. We thank her for her courageous contribution to our campaign.

‘In response to pressure from some Councillors and the Campaign, a £250,000 contingency fund was proposed with the idea that it would be used when mental health need is identified. Our view is that the need for an adequately resourced CAMHS service is already clearly identified as significant and that a much greater demand on the local CAMHS service is yet to come.’

‘Don’t tell me that CAMHS waiting times are satisfactory. My 13 year old daughter has been waiting for 8 months to be seen in Lewisham CAMHS. She has been barely able to get out of bed, not communicating, missing lots of school, self-harming and feeling like her life is not worth living. If this were due to a physical illness, she would rightly have had tests and treatment within weeks. But because it’s a mental health problem it seems it’s OK to leave her languishing on a waiting list for eight months without even an assessment or diagnosis? Whatever happened to parity of esteem between mental and physical health? My daughter has had early intervention through her school, but this service can’t provide diagnosis and targeted treatment. But apparently my daughter’s case is not enough of a crisis to get her prioritised for assessment in Lewisham CAMHS. My heart bleeds for all the other Lewisham families that must be stuck in the same boat as us. Don’t tell distraught parents that CAMHS don’t need the £250000 of council funding and that Early Intervention and Schools Mental Health Services can meet these needs’.
A Lewisham Parent
Read more in our Bulletin 3 here

We say;
‘The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign will continue to campaign about the physical and mental health needs of Lewisham children and young people. Do get in touch with us if you would like to be involved.”

Do please speak to write to your local councillor and MPs if you agree that this cut should not be made.

We ask that the council and health services have a joint Lewisham-wide campaign advising children and young people and their families how to access mental health support.

We understand the unacceptable pressures and brutal financial cuts imposed by the Government on the Council over the last 10 years. We know that Lewisham Council says it needs to make £40 million in cuts over the next three years.’


WHAT  YOU CAN DO

  • Sign our petition here and  help us share on social media
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/savelewishamhospitalnhs/  Twitter https://twitter.com/SaveLewishamAE
  • Please write to your local councillor and MPs if you agree that this cut should not be made.
  • Put this motion to your Labour Party or Trade Union branch. Download LABOUR PARTY MOTION HERE
  • We ask that the council and health services have a joint Lewisham-wide campaign advising children and young people and their families how to access mental health support
  • We again call on Lewisham’s Mayor and elected councillors to campaign with us, with other London boroughs and the LGA, and with the national Labour Party to launch a campaign on the dangers to life, health and mental health from the impact of Government cuts to Local Authorities. The LGA has already called for the urgent reinstatement of the £1.7billion for early intervention that was taken from council budgets in 2010-11 and 2018-19
  • The campaign should demand that national Government adequately reimburse Local Authorities for the unprecedented massive expenditure imposed on them by the COVID pandemic so that proposed cuts adversely affecting the lives of children, young people and the most vulnerable in society do not take place.

READ WHAT WE HAVE DONE SO FAR

The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign learned a week ago that the the Council plans to cut £250,000 from cuts to CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) as part of a proposed package of close to £1.5m cuts with a direct or indirect impact on children, including cuts to the Health Visitor budget.

PREVIOUSLY
The Save Lewisham Hospital is urging the Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan and Council to defend the mental health safety of children at the current time of COVID by not making the cut to CAMHS.

  • The pressures on CAMHSs are increasing with COVID 19 as one source described:
  • Pressures have increased greatly: young people are spending long periods out of school which can sometimes be a protective factor for those with mental health problems. Many feel increasingly socially isolated – there are currently no sport or other protective leisure activities.”
  • Some young people are having to deal with their anxiety about vulnerable family members who are sick or even dying, especially children of key workers who are having to have to got to work in unsafe environments. We know of some children are scared to go to school lest they infect family members.
  • There are also increased pressures on families and young people due to family unemployment, poverty and inadequate finances, home schooling, increased cases domestic violence, increased parental mental health problems.
  • CAMHS services have historically been severely underfunded in Lewisham. Although measures to redress this have led to initial waiting times coming down, waiting times for actual therapy input can be from several months up to a year, as they were in in 2018 when we last addressed the Children and Young People’s Committee. Local GPs are finding it difficult to secure referrals to CAMHS and other support services due to lack of capacity.
  • This can cause considerable frustration and disappointment as parents arrive thinking their child is going to get a service but they only get an assessment and then are told there will be another long wait for any follow up treatment identified as necessary.”
  • The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign is urging the Council to establish the true extent of the internal waiting lists and understand the implications for children and young people before decisions are made and to ensure that the Council’s proposed cuts to CAMHS will not lead to even worse waiting times.
  • There are further cuts planned that also affect children and young people including cuts to health visiting services (£350,000), closure of a housing unit for mothers and babies housing that offers supported accommodation to 16-22 year olds, cuts to school transport for disabled children.

Dr Tony O’Sullivan, retired paediatrician and former Director of Children’s Services at Lewisham and Greenwich Trust says”

‘”The impact on the local population and in this case the young and vulnerable is intolerable. We implore the Mayor and Cabinet to work with  campaigners, the LGA other Councils, and with the national Labour Party, to launch an awareness campaign on the dangers to life and health from the impact of Government cuts to Local Authorities.”.

We have to speak out!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! PLEASE HELP US: