THE government is reviewing the way controlled drugs are prescribed to young Islanders struggling with their mental health.
Currently, only Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service clinicians are authorised to prescribe medication for their clients.
A new Jersey Care Commission report – undertaken with the Royal College of Psychiatrists – said this had a considerable impact on clinicians, and was acknowledged to be “not sustainable”.
The government last week took the first step towards changing this model, in line with a recommendation in the JCC report that there should be a shared responsibility with GPs.
An application has been made to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which reports to the Social Security Minister, whose approval is required to add the medication to the white list of the Health Insurance Fund.
The PBAC will now hold a further meeting to consider the application in detail.
The recommendation is one of 12 “areas of improvement” in the review which found that the service met 204 of the 255 standards set out.
It drew attention to the historic challenges that CAMHS has faced around its public reputation in the community while being underfunded and understaffed.
But, the report noted that “in the past three years, the team has expanded from a staff team of 17 to 70.9 full-time equivalents with momentum to continue with further improvements, including the ongoing Mental Health Strategy that began in 2022 and will run until 2025”.
It also drew attention to the positive attitude of those they interviewed about the service. Parents and carers described team members as “amazing” and commented on how much the service had improved in recent years.
Among the report’s other recommendations are allowing clients to self-refer to the service – options for which CAMHS say will be tabled this year – and updating the memorandum of understanding between CYPES and Health and Community Services for the governance and operation of the service.
Responding to the report, Children’s Minister Richard Vibert said there were many positives to be taken from the review.
“Thanks to increased funding over the last three years, the service has been able to grow remarkably.
He added: “The investment and subsequent growth have undoubtedly led to some of the service’s improvements cited, including the introduction of a dedicated Early Intervention Service and a Neurodevelopmental Service. Crucially, waiting list times for assessments have been reduced significantly, which reviewers described as ‘highly commendable’.
“I have every faith that the CAMHS team will continue to build upon the many successes this report demonstrates, to provide our children and young people with the care that they deserve,” Mr Vibert said.
