Safe Housing United Kingdom Project #7361

No Health without Mental Health-Support YoungMinds

by YoungMinds

No Health without Mental Health-Support YoungMinds

Project Report | Apr 11, 2017
Mental Health Hospitals in the UK failing Parents

By Will Robinson | Community Fundraiser

YoungMinds and the National Autistic Society are launching the Always campaign, which calls for the government to protect and enforce the rights of children in mental health hospitals.

The campaign is based around The Always Charter, which sets out ten rights that young people in inpatient units and their families should always have.

Sarah Brennan, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said:

Many parents feel angry and frustrated with the treatment their children are receiving in hospital. In the worst cases, young people can be trapped in inappropriate care for years, with their mental health deteriorating, while their parents desperately try to find a way to get them home.

“That’s why it’s crucial that young people and their families have clear and enforceable rights that put that young person’s needs at the centre of their care and treatment.”

THE EXPERIENCE OF PARENTS:

A new survey by YoungMinds and the National Autistic Society, found that:

44% of parents have felt unable to challenge decisions about their child’s treatment, while 52% do not know what rights their child has or they have while in hospital.
Only 43% of parents think that their child’s mental health has improved while in hospital. A quarter (24%) think that their child’s mental health has deteriorated a lot.
44% couldn’t visit their child as often as they would have liked to because of the distance or travel time

Parents who responded to the survey told us:

“My child has had a number of admissions to different units. The communication and support from these services has been very poor. I have felt guilty, judged, not listened to and belittled.”

“I did challenge some decisions but feel my views were still dismissed and I gave up. The majority of the experience in inpatient was a 'done to' rather than ‘with’ approach.”

“We were always asked - ‘Here's what we recommend. Do you agree?’ - as though it was our choice. But when we didn't agree, we were seen as obstructive. They said we had choice, but we didn't.”

“We needed a key contact that all questions about our daughter could be voiced through. Although she had a key worker, she was rarely at the unit or contactable.”

Links:

The Always Charter

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Jan 9, 2017
YoungMinds New Year Update

By Matt La Faci | Community Fundraiser

Once again a massive thank you to all of our supporters who have donated to our vital work through GlobalGiving. The start of the new year is always a busy one for us so I just wanted to update on our recent developments, as I hope we can count on your support once again this year.

Last month, YoungMinds analysis revealed that many local health bodies are diverting some of the new funding received for children's mental health services to other priorities.

In 2015, the government pledged an extra £1.4 billion over five years to “transform” Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Research undertaken by YoungMinds into the responses of 199 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) from Freedom of Information requests has revealed that:

Fewer than half of the CCGs who responded were able to provide full information about their CAMHS budgets. If CAMHS services are to improve, there needs to be far greater accountability about where money is being spent.
In the first year of extra funding (2015-16), only 36% of CCGs who responded increased their CAMHS spend to reflect their additional government funds. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of CCGs used some or all of the extra money to backfill cuts or to spend on other priorities.
In the second year of extra funding (2016-17), only half of CCGs (50%) who responded increased their CAMHS spend to reflect their additional government funds. The other half (50%) are using some or all of the extra money for other priorities.

Sarah Brennan, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said:

"After years of cuts, the government’s recent investment in children’s mental health services was hugely welcome, and we should now be witnessing significant improvements across the country. But the reality is that the situation varies enormously from one area to the next. While some CCGs have made big increases in their spending, it’s deeply concerning that so many others are using some of the new money to backfill cuts or to spend on other priorities.

It is also alarming that half of CCGs can’t provide full information about their CAMHS budgets. If they aren’t properly tracking how much money they are spending, it is impossible to say whether services are improving.

Jeremy Hunt has described CAMHS as the single weakest area of NHS provision, so it is vital that all the new money is spent where it was intended – on creating better services with a greater focus on early intervention.”

Through our policy and campaigning work, YoungMinds has been working tirelessly to make sure that government spending on children and young people's goes where it needs to. Without your continued support we would not be able to lobby for the changes that these vital services need. We hope you can continue to help throughout 2017!

Links:

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/

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Sep 9, 2016
The Royals Visit the Parent's Helpline

By Matt La Faci | Community Fundraiser

With summer coming to an end, we'd just like to say a massive thak you to all our donors who have supported us this past year and share some updates about what has been going on at our charity in the past three months.

At the end of August, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a very special visit to the YoungMinds Parents Helpline headquarters as part of their Heads Together campaign.

Their Royal Highnesses got to witness first-hand the hard work and dedication that goes into running the Parents Helpline. After friendly chats with staff and volunteers at YoungMinds, The Duke and Duchess received a helpline short course in becoming a volunteer. This taster session provided them with an in depth understanding of the caller’s experience upon contacting the helpline.

As the morning progressed, Their Royal Highnesses observed some of the calls the helpline received and experienced a typical debriefing session to round off the day. All the while, volunteers were able to talk with the Duke and Duchess about their experiences and motivation for joining the Parents Helpline.

Of the visit William said:

“I found it very eye-opening. I thought the service was fantastic, the idea that you’ve got these very caring, lovely people on the end of the phone who listen for as long as they need to, to build the picture of what is going on, and then provide extremely good advice - and then the fact that you’ve got the mental health professionals later down the line if necessary. I think that is a really good balance of getting the right support straight to these families who are clearly at their wits’ end at what to do, and reaching out. Thank goodness they do reach out to something like this.”

Everyone at YoungMinds are incredibly greatful for the Duke and Duchess for coming down to show their support for this vital service.

The Parent's Helpline received over 10,000 calls last year. We can't thank our donors enough, without your continued support we wouldn't be able to provide parents who are worried about their child's mental health with help.

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