Liberal Democrat County Councillors have called for urgent improvements to Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, known as CAMHS, in Surrey.

Surrey County Council currently commissions these services from Surrey & Borders NHS Trust but there has been strong criticism of the long waiting times for routine assessments and appointments.

We have looked at why this service has been so heavily criticised and we believe that there is an urgent moral and practical need to improve CAMHS services in Surrey so that vulnerable young people get the help they need and quickly.

We have noted that many Councillors across Surrey regularly receive communications from distraught parents and carers who are trying to get appointments and treatment for children and young people but cannot.

We have also seen the County Council’s lack of urgency and failure to monitor and enforce the terms of its contract under which it procures these services – the County Council has not invoked any penalty clauses, nor have any payments been withheld.

We believe that we can and must do much better than this, and the County Council should not rule out procuring the service from elsewhere.

We want to see a long-term solution to the increased demand for these services and are calling for Surrey County Council to establish a research partnership with the University of Surrey to help the County Council understand why demand for these services is rising and to be able to plan CAMHS services and resources much more effectively in the future. We owe it to children and young people across Surrey to get these crucial services right.