THOUSANDS of children are to be given more access to mental health support and therapy at school under a scheme trialled by Surrey County Council. 

This comes as waiting times for assessments for children are reportedly going down following concern raised two years ago about families having to wait months for help. 

But waiting times between assessment and access to treatment have gone up, according to figures in a council report.

It is hoped that by offering schools more resources and support this will decrease the need for more referrals and provide greater earlier intervention for children who need support. 

The CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service) contract for SCC has come under close scrutiny these past two years after fears for the time children were waiting for assessments to access help were raised. 

A review of the contract with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was carried out last year and an interim plan was put in place to deal with a backlog of around 2,000 youngsters waiting for access to support. 

But councillors were told this week the contract with Surrey and Borders Partnership has been extended until 2021 to give a transformation of the service a chance to take place before a new contract is commissioned. 

Major changes that are already being worked on include better access to information, employing primary mental health workers to go into schools and work closely with teachers and parents, a more robust multi-agency approach and residential provision for those reaching crisis point if needed. 

Under the transformation, four clusters of schools – called accelerator sites – have been established to allow children and families to access support closer to home. 

This totals 27 schools including primary, secondary and specialised schools.

SCC will test how providing earlier intervention in a school setting supports children and it is hoped this will decrease the need for further help as they grow up, councillors were told. 

The scheme is being rolled out in Spelthorne, Elmbridge, Waverley and Tandridge boroughs and districts. 

Expert staff will be drafted in to the cluster of schools involved to deliver services. 

An external partner will evaluate the test of accelerator sites and after any changes are made it is hoped this will then be drawn into the new contract for 2021. 

An update on the transformation for CAMHS was given to councillors at a meeting at county hall on Wednesday. 

Julia Cramp, emotional wellbeing and mental health transformation programme consultant, said: “We are working a lot closer with schools to bring the clinical resources closer to them. We are creating emotionally healthy schools. The children know there are people they can turn to in the school and who will do everything they can to provide early help and support.”

She said they are currently recruiting for primary mental health workers who will start working with schools in September.

Figures included in a report on the programme show the overall waiting list for CAMHS assessment has increased by 21.8% (476 referrals) since March 2018 but that waiting times for an assessment have fallen by 4.2%. 

Waiting lists for treatment has also increased in that time by 12.9% (94 referrals) and the average waiting time from assessment to treatment has also increased by 29.7%.

Overall, 769 referrals were allocated to a CAMHS pathway waiting for assessment in March 2019, compared to 1,034 the year before.

The 27 schools to be involved in accelerator sites have been chosen and work to deliver the services will be carried out between now and January 2020. 

Councillors were told all families involved in the backlog of assessment waiting lists have been contacted with an update.