Agenda item

Report of Head of Democratic Services (Nottingham City Council)

Sharon Crebor, Associate Director of Transformation at Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust introduced the 5 Year Strategy for Children, Young People and Families, highlighting the following points:

(a)  a twelve week consultation commenced on 15^th June 2015 regarding the following proposals:

·  Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – new outpatient facilities for the city and south of county;

·  Inpatient CAMHS – a new unit with an increase in beds from 13 to 24;

·  A purpose built Education Unit for CAMHS inpatients:

·  Perinatal Services – a new Mother and Baby inpatient unit, with a small increase in beds from 7 to 8 and new outpatient facility for city and south of the county;

(b)  the proposal would bring the four services together onto a single site at the previously known Cedars Rehabilitation unit on Mansfield Road, Nottingham, therefore relocating services from both Thorneywood and QMC site; 

(c)  the Cedars site would provide the ideal therapeutic setting and a major benefit would be that younger people accessing specialist services would  have them provided closer to home as well as an overall improvement in quality of care;

(d)  a business case is being developed for consideration by the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust Board on 24 September 2015, but this is very complex due to the financial and capital investment required as well as planning consent;

(e)  service users including patients and carers will be involved in the detailed design of the proposed services if approved by the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust Board;

Councillors were introduced to Dr Lucy Allsopp (Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), Richard Brown (Associate Director Capital Planning), and Elizabeth Allcock (Service Improvement Facilitator).  Following the introduction, members asked questions and the following points were discussed:

(f)  the Cedars site is within city council boundaries, so talks have been ongoing with the Nottingham City Council  colleagues regarding planning, property design and education requirements. Discussions have also taken place with the integrated commissioning hub at Nottinghamshire County Council regarding funding for the project. Details of those organisations who have been involved in proposal discussions are to be included in the consultation pack;

(g)  a small number of residents attended the public consultation on 1 July.  In addition to this, people have responded to an online survey and via telephone.  There is a further public consultation meeting scheduled to take place on 28 July 2015;

(h)  the chair of Healthwatch Nottingham welcomed proposals as the current facilities are considered antiquated;

(i)   there is ongoing liaison with NHS England area commissioners regarding the proposals particularly as the psychiatric intensive care service will be East Midlands wide or wider service and the specialist eating disorder beds will be an East Midlands wide facility; 

(j)  every patient who has accessed the CAMHS and perinatal services has been contacted regarding the proposals and Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust is linking in with wider user group forums to engage with hard to reach groups and patients with disabilities.  Alongside this work, there have been 60 hours of one to one sessions collating patient’s stories and experiences of current services;

(k)  Committee members supported the use of digital technology to gauge the views of children and young people accessing services and the current proposals;

(l)  if the proposals are approved Thorneywood will continue to provide adult services within the site;

RESOLVED to:

(1)  give full support to the four proposals currently out for consultation as listed in point (a);

(2)  consider the proposals to be a development of services rather than a substantial variation;

(3)  ask Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust to advise on the business case outcome decision of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust Board;

(4)  thank Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust for the report.