Ministers call for teacher training to cover mental health

The committee's report into children’s and adolescents’ mental health and CAMHS-a specialist NHS service, says that while some teachers and schools provide excellent mental health support, others seem less knowledgeable, well trained or ‘scared’ of discussing mental health issues.

It calls upon the Department for Education (DfE) to include a mandatory module on mental health in initial teacher training, along with training for teaching and support staff as part of ongoing professional development.

The committee also recommends the DfE conduct an audit of mental health provision and support within schools, looking at how well the guidance issued to schools has been implemented and what further support may be needed, highlighting examples of best practice.

This would be supported by routine assessments of mental health provision in schools by Ofsted.

The report, which argues there are ‘serious’ and ‘deeply ingrained’ problems with children’s and adolescents’ mental health services, reveals ‘unacceptable’ variation in the provision of perinatal (the period immediately before and after birth) mental health services.

The Committee says that the perinatal period is a ‘crucially important’ time for promoting good mental health, and recommends that services be available in every area.

It also calls for the Department of Health/NHS England Taskforce on children’s mental health, launched in July, to audit commissioning of early intervention services in local authorities and report the best mechanisms to provide stable, long-term funding for services.

The committee’s call follows concerns that in many areas early intervention services are being cut or are suffering from insecure of short-term funding.

The report goes on to recommend the last survey of children’s and young people’s mental health, carried out ten years ago, be updated so those commissioning and running CAMHS services aren’t operating in a ‘fog’, which the committee claims is currently the case.

Updating this information must be made a priority for the Department of Health/NHS England taskforce, it says.

Dr Jacqueline Cornish, NHS England’s national clinical director for children, young people and transition to adulthood, said, 'Too many children and young people have either had to travel some distance from their homes to access specialised inpatient beds or struggled to get the care they need.
 
'This is why we have taken action to provide extra inpatient beds and better care for those children to whom these services are so important.
 
'We have set up a taskforce to tackle these challenges, which require close working between a wide range of organisations. We will shortly be launching pilots to improve joint commissioning across health, social care and education.'

Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the NCB, said, ‘Sadly it will come as no surprise to many that the Committee has found serious problems in the commissioning and provision of CAMHS across the country.

 ‘The areas highlighted for action echo those changes we have been calling for. Schools need to be better supported to make a positive contribution to children's emotional well-being; there needs to be better data on children’s needs to inform planning of services; and there needs to be clear national direction-setting backed by resource.

 ‘We look forward to the report of the children’s mental health taskforce, who we hope will be in a position to set out clear actions to address this situation.’