Have your say: Healthwatch wants to know about your experience of accessing children’s mental health services

Healthwatch Rochdale

A research project has been launched by patient watchdog service Healthwatch to understand the experiences of accessing child and adolescent mental health services across Greater Manchester.

Healthwatch in Greater Manchester says there has been “an increased demand” for child and adolescent mental health services to assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties.

It says this uplift in demand has impacted waiting times for children and young people to receive initial assessment by an NHS professional.

To understand the impact of this issue, Healthwatch in Greater Manchester has launched a research project to obtain the experiences of parents, carers and young people who have accessed, or are trying to access child and adolescent mental health services.

This research will also review the experiences of health and care professionals who are faced with the pressures of the increasing numbers of children and young people who seek their help whilst they continue to provide the highest quality of care.

Heather Etheridge, Healthwatch in Greater Manchester, independent chair, said: “Children and families having access to support, at the time they need it, is so important to us at Healthwatch. We want to ensure their experience and voice is heard across the whole of Greater Manchester and this joint project will allow us to do this.”

The findings of this research will be made available to the public and will used to inform NHS decision-makers to support system-wide learning.

To share your experience, please follow the links below:

• Parents/carers: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/04XCJG/
• Children and young people: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/5AOYF6/
• Professionals: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/JO28WR/