Full Government Response to the independent review of CAMHS published 7 January 2010
Independent CAMHS Review
In December 2007, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls and Health Secretary Alan Johnson commissioned an independent review of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Jo Davidson, Group Director of Children and Young People’s Services at Gloucestershire County Council, led the Review. Dr Bob Jezzard, retired child and adolescent psychiatrist, was vice-chair. The Review represented an opportunity to look at how services were meeting the education, health and social needs of children and young people at risk of, and experiencing, mental health problems, and to see how universal and specialist services might be improved for children and young people with mental health needs and their families.
Between April and October 2008 the Review team spoke to key stakeholders – especially children and young people – collecting evidence and information, considering the key issues raised and developing recommendations.
Final report of the Review – 18 November 2008
The Review found that local services have made significant progress in recent years, but that more needed to be done to improve the consistency, accessibility and suitability of services. The final report, Children and Young People in Mind, contained 20 recommendations for Government and set out a clear vision of how we can all take responsibility for promoting children’s psychological wellbeing and mental health.
Government Response
Ed Balls and Alan Johnson welcomed the review and set out the Government’s initial response to each of the review’s 20 recommendations in a summary document that is available on this site.
Keeping Children and Young People in Mind – The Government's full response to the independent review of CAMHS, was published on 7 January 2010. In responding in full to the review’s recommendations, the document sets out
- Government’s commitments for the high-quality services that all children will receive
- a description of the characteristics of effective services that we expect all local areas to be working towards
- a package of support from the Government to help local areas deliver this.
The response has been informed by existing evidence and good practice. It is designed to provide practical advice for those who plan and deliver support for children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health.
The Government has also produced a report setting out what the full response to the CAMHS Review means for children, young people and families, which can be downloaded from this page.
In addition, a set of supporting slides have been produced. The slides set out an overview of the response which colleagues may also find useful for communicating with stakeholders.
National Advisory Council for children’s mental health and psychological wellbeing
In response to Children and Young People in Mind, the Government set up in November 2008 a National Advisory Council for children’s mental health and psychological wellbeing, an independent body, consisting of 27 individuals who represent various different organisations and professional groups, to
- champion the importance of mental health and psychological wellbeing and keep it as a national priority
- ensure that the recommendations in the CAMHS Review are effectively addressed
- hold Government to account for its progress on the implementation of the recommendations.
Further information on the work of the National Advisory Council can be found on their website.
If you have any comments on the content of the report, please email your comments to camhs.review@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
The CAMHS Review was an independent review supported by officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health.
