Issue - items at meetings - Update on 'Talk Health' report

74.1         Debbie Collins from Amaze presented the report. Ms Collins began by giving a huge thanks to HWOSC members for championing the Talk Health report on behalf of the Parents and Carers’ Council (PaCC); having the backing of HWOSC had opened doors and given opportunities for dialogue that had not been there before. There has been a wide variation in the reception that Talk Health have had from GP across the city.  Some have engaged but some still have a long way to go to fully acknowledge the requirements of a child with special needs.

74.2         There were a few areas of work that still needed further attention, in particular the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) which was not engaging with PaCC. Their key contact had left and communication with CAMHS tended to be one-way, with little information coming back to parents. Ms Collins was due to arrange a meeting with CAMHS about how they communicated with parents and carers as it was an issue that has been raised repeatedly.

74.3         Sam Allen, Sussex Partnership Trust, spoke on behalf of CAMHS, apologising for the poor service that PaCC members had experienced and promising to take up the matter with CAMHS colleagues on behalf of PaCC. This was welcomed.

74.4         Ms Collins said that she did not wish to repeat all of the information that was in the report, but welcomed members’ questions.

74.5         Members queried what steps were in place to address the abuse of blue badges with regard to the parking scheme at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital? How would the road layout be overcome to enable authorised queue jumping?

Ms Collins said that blue badges were checked rigourously. The arrangement in place for blue badge holders to go to the front of the car park queue was only for families who had their children with them. The car park attendant would help the cars pass by where necessary.

74.6    The Healthwatch representative said that they would welcome a parent to sit on Healthwatch.

74.7The Chair commented that members were still happy to champion the report but given that a large number of the recommendations had already been achieved, it would be a more of a scaled back championing, on the understanding that PaCC will actively contact HWOSC to ask for help where needed.

74.8Ms Collins agreed this approach would be a helpful one for all parties.