HDD-ITT-49811 Provision of Mental Health Active Monitoring Services for 11 to 18 Years Olds

Hywel Dda University Health board has awarded a contract for provision of Mental Health Active Monitoring Services for 11 to 18 Years Olds within the Tywi /Taf cluster GP cluster.Children who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems should be able to get the help and support they need, when they need it. Tywi /Taf cluster are seeking to commission mental health active monitoring services/ early intervention service for 11–18-year-olds to support all eight GP Practices within the cluster. The service should fill a gap in children’s / young adult services within the Tywi /Taf area and needs to deliver timely efficient, active monitoring to the patients of the cluster to decrease mental health difficulties and increase wellbeing. The service will offer a combination of face to face and virtual sessions and aim to deliver an efficient service across Tywi /Taf locality.The service will Meet the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 ‘A Healthier Wales’ by providing the ‘together for mental health’ objectives of improving mental wellbeing by giving the children in Tywi/Taf cluster the information and support they need to sustain and improve their mental health and self-manage their mental health problems. Also, by encouraging a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention.The aim of the service will be to give GPs and Primary Health Care professionals direct access to an evidence-based Programme for children experiencing mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.Active Monitoring (AM) is a self-directed psycho-educational Programme made up of 5 face to face interventions over an 8 week period with a total of 2.25 hours of face to face support. The service is offered to people presenting to GPs with a range of symptoms associated with common mental health problems such as anxiety, mild depression, stress and worry and low confidence and self-esteem. It is a GP referred service for when a person first presents at their GP and/or during the ‘watchful waiting’ period (Depression Management of depression in primary care and secondary care (2004) NICE Clinical Guidance 23).The service can also be successful to reduce frequent attender visits to practices who may present with symptoms of low to moderate mental health problems.