CAMHS Research Study

TheMix

Hey all, we recently were contacted by a research assistant from the University of Manchester who is trying to improve CAMHS services! Specifically, understanding the difficulty in referrals and looking to improve how referrals are made. Here is more information below:

Hello,

I am a research assistant working for the University of Manchester.

We are currently conducting a piece of research aiming to improve the referral process for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), and are particularly interested in recruiting parents and/or carers, key referrers to CAMHS (e.g. GPs and teachers) and CAMHS professionals in Greater Manchester, and children and young people aged 16-25 who have experience being referred to CAMHS services who would advise us on the project.

Background: More than 260,000 children in the UK were referred for clinical help to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in England in 2018/2019; this number has risen steadily for the last five years. About one quarter of children referred to CAMHS by their GPs, schools or parents are rejected for treatment by services because the correct referral process has not been followed. This is clearly distressing for children and families who may wait a long time for an appointment at CAMHS and are turned away without necessarily being signposted elsewhere. The process is also very costly to services because time is wasted reviewing documents and following up with referrers about children who should have been referred for alternative help.

We aim to understand what the difficulties are in making referrals to CAMHS services. We want to improve the quality of referrals to CAMHS services so that only children and young people who can be helped by CAMHS are referred; and so that others can be guided to receive help they need elsewhere.

For children and adolescents, we’d ask them to attend virtual meetings every two months until December 2022. They’d monitor the progress of the project against the stated objectives and keep overall progress under review. In return, we would offer compensation for their time and research training opportunities.

If you are would like further information please contact my colleague Zara at: zara.bernard@manchester.ac.uk

Laura_tigger82

This is really fascinating!

Former Member

wow