Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Commissioning Manager – Integrated Commissioning Unit.

Steve Tatham introduced himself as the commissioning manager from the ‘Integrated Commissioning Unit’ – a service jointly provided by the Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust (CECPCT) and Cheshire East Council.

In outlining the most salient points from the report, Steve Tatham firstly referred to the high and increasing demand for ‘Autistic Spectrum Diagnostic Services’ in the Eastern part of Cheshire East (Macclesfield, Congleton and Alsager). He reported that this had led to longer waiting times for assessment but that this was being addressed by implementing an integrated single point of access for children, families and professionals who might require advice, training, consultation, assessment and ongoing support.

Steve Tatham continued to note that ‘The Integrated Commissioning Unit’ commissioned mental health services on a continued support basis from two bases in Macclesfield and Crewe. He explained that this meant the service model was based around a ‘tiered approach’ of universal, targeted and specialist services respectively. Attention was drawn to the appendix provided which gave a more detailed breakdown of the range of services available.

Steve Tatham reported that within this service model, prevention and intervention were two key themes. He explained that in line with this, Cheshire East Council in partnership with Cheshire West and Chester, PCT’s and Clinical Commissioning Groups were establishing two new nationally led evidenced based programmes which were due to start in April 2012. These were as follows:

-       The ‘Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme – Intensive and therapeutic support for 100 first time teenage mothers

-       A ‘Multi-Systemic Therapy’ (MST) programme – Intensive support to prevent children and young people entering care and/or custody. 

In terms of the ‘Family Nurse Partnership’ programme, it was queried whether it was appropriate to deal with teenage pregnancy as a mental health issue. Steve Tatham explained that as teenage parents tended to be isolated, evidence showed that they were more prone to post-natal depression and other related issues. Therefore the aim of the programme was to try and provide assistance to improve the life chances of both the parent and child.

It was questioned why the Eastern part of the Borough had longer waiting times for autistic spectrum assessments. Steve Tatham explained that this was due to the historical legacy of how the PCT footprint used to function. In the ‘central’ part of Cheshire which included areas such as Crewe and Middlewich there had been a history of integration and harmonisation of services which was not present in the East. It was expected that this would be addressed by putting in place an integrated single access point in the Eastern part of the Borough.

A comment was made with regards to the process of applying for Individual Pupil Funding (IPF). It was asserted that the process was difficult and that it was very rarely granted. It was queried therefore, whether the process could be simplified. Fintan Bradley reported that this was one of the issues that the ongoing SEN Review was looking at and that they were exploring reducing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 112