CONCERNS over recruitment could lead to responsibility for children’s mental health services in Bolton being transferred away from the hospital.

The Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (FT) has been home to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) since 2011, operating from the Royal Bolton Hospital.

At a meeting of the Bolton Health Overview and Adult Social Care scrutiny committee, chief officer Su Long revealed the service had struggled with staff recruitment and retention.

This has lead to problems, the most notable of which is increased waiting times for the youngsters referred to the service.

Ms Long said: “The only part of the Care Quality Commission inspection of Bolton FT which came out with levels of concern was CAMHS, and that was recruitment, retention and training of staff and links with delays in seeing patients.

“With the Bolton FT not being a mental health provider service, it does make it difficult to recruit the staff needed for CAMHS. It’s a national problem.

“The key element around the service is recruiting and sustaining staff. It needs to be a strong provider with links in the mental heath services.

“We have agreed to reprocure the service and redesign towards the needs of people and a more person-centred design.

“The aim is to move away from being a medical model which is clinically focused and use a national model which puts the individual at the heart of the care.”

CAMHS provides outpatient and day case services for children aged five to 18, and the presentation by Ms Long revealed that many were waiting around 23 weeks to receive treatment from a service practitioner.

A Children and Young People’s Mental Health Needs Assessment has also recently been revised by Public Health.

It found there were 15,050 five to 19-year-olds in Bolton who would benefit from a mental health intervention not suitable to CAMHS - this includes support through a GP and other community services.

There are also 4,400 children and young people, aged between five and 16 in the town, eligible to be seen by a NHS funded community mental health provider, and a further 1,990 16 to 19-year-olds suffering from a common mental health problem.

Bolton FT has agreed with the CCG that the best way forward was to begin the process to find another provider for the service.

Refining the new approach of the service will take place over the next two months, consulting with the service users and their families.

The provider contract would then be put out for bidders by the end of June, to be awarded in October and an expected start date of April next year.