The HSE has announced five new Camhs hubs to assist current teams with enhanced responses to children, young people and their families/carers.
The health service said the new Camhs hubs aim to provide timely and person-centred support: By offering support in the home or community, the model aims to respond quickly to individuals' needs and empower them on their recovery journey.
The hubs will help reduce hospital admissions: By providing intensive supports during times of acute mental health crisis, the model seeks to offer an alternative response and reduce the need for inpatient admissions when appropriate.
They said they are taking a multidisciplinary approach as Camhs hubs teams will play a vital role in this model by delivering intensive mental health interventions and support in the home and community
The teams will consist of professionals from various disciplines who assess the individual's needs and develop an individual care plan tailored to support their recovery journey.
This multidisciplinary approach ensures that individuals receive comprehensive and holistic care.
The pilot implementation of the Camhs Hub will undergo an independent evaluation over the testing phase of 18–24 months.
This evaluation will help assess whether the desired outcomes are being met and inform future development of the service.
By continuously learning and adapting based on the evaluation results, the HSE can improve the model and ensure it meets the needs of individuals with mental difficulties.
Speaking about the launch, Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mary Butler said: “The development of this new multi-disciplinary Model of Care and the expansion of Camhs Hubs nationally has been a priority for me and for the HSE.
"Support from these Hubs is designed to be over a short period of time, as they provide targeted and intensive intervention and support with flexibility to respond to different young people’s or parent/carer needs.
"We have worked hard to make sure this service will be child and young person centred, recovery focused and trauma informed.
“This is a welcome and significant new service development to advance in particular Recommendation 35 of our Sharing the Vision policy to develop a comprehensive specialist mental health out-of-hours response for children and adolescents in all geographical areas."
