Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what grounds the discharge of youths from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is based on school years rather than date of birth; and if he will change the basis for discharge from CAMHS.

Alistair Burt

There is no central requirement for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to use a school year rather than age as a threshold for transition.

In December 2014 and January 2015, NHS England published new service specifications for commissioners, giving guidance and best practice on transition from CAMHS to adult services (or elsewhere). These specifications intentionally do not stipulate an age threshold for transition but states that transition should be built around the needs of the individual, not focussed on age.

The Future in mind report recognised that transition at aged 18 years of age is not always appropriate and that there should be flexibility around age boundaries, in which transition is based on individual circumstances, rather than absolute age, with joint working and shared practice between services to promote continuity of care.