Two North West London Child Health Hubs (CHHs) have been selected as Implementation Sites to test improved integration of mental health provision as part of the NW London Mission to Support Children and Young People’s Mental Health. They will receive dedicated support to implement wider integration of mental health provision and neurodevelopmental expertise in existing, successful CHHs, addressing challenges around driving earlier intervention and collaborating across sectors to reduce fragmentation and treat children in a holistic way.
South Fulham PCN and K+W South, who both host CHHs, will be the first sites to implement this approach, including wider integration of mental health clinicians into the hubs’ multi-disciplinary teams to provide better support and management for patients with mental health and neurodiversity needs. These Phase 1 Implementation Sites will receive expert support in developing and sustaining an, integrated approach to scaling mental health and neurodevelopmental expertise into existing hubs. The Phase 1 sites will also explore the opportunities for implementing digital enablers to enhance process and efficiency of CHHs.
Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP), the Health Innovation Network and innovation partner for NW London, coordinated this call for sites as part of the region’s research and innovation Mission to support children and young people’s mental health, a collaborative, joined-up approach which is aligning the priorities and resource of health and care organisations across the patch.
CHH’s have been prioritised as an innovation opportunity area following a rigorous and robust discovery phase which included extensive data analysis and engagement with the system, including clinicians, system leaders, patients and their families, academia, charities and industry. The CHH model enables all healthcare professionals involved in a child’s care to regularly communicate as part of a multi-disciplinary team, making it faster and easier to address any issues. This could include GPs, paediatric consultants, social care managers, school nurses, mental health workers, etc.
South Fulham PCN and K+W South will form NW London’s Phase 1 Implementation Sites for integration of mental health and neurodevelopmental expertise in CHHs, and will be live from January – April 2025. As part of this iterative approach, this first phase will focus on:
- Integrating mental health professionals into the CHH multi-disciplinary teams
- Facilitating greater lived-experience involvement in the design and improvement of this integrated model
- Supporting implementation of relevant digital innovations to support proactive case-finding
- Evaluating of the process, impact and enablers and barriers for sustainable integration of mental health and neurodevelopmental expertise in CHHs.
The Phase 1 evaluation will influence the approach and decisions for adoption and scale in Phase 2 Implementation Sites, with a view to streamline and improve the integrated model. Together, sites from Phase 1 and Phase 2 will form the initial Innovation network for the NW London Mission to Support Children and Young People’s Mental Health.
Larry Koyama, Innovation Lead at Imperial College Health Partners, said:
“We are delighted to be part of driving this new, integrated way of working and capitalising on
the success of the CHH model pioneered in NW London. Integrating mental health provision in this way will provide a mechanism for cross-system first-line support to children and young people, addressing key problems identified across the crisis and ND pathways – including earlier support, timely access to signposting, and addressing inequalities.”
Dr Neel Trivedi from K+W South and Dr Katy Dudgeon from South Fulham PCN said:
“We’re excited to be the part of the teams working in this innovative and integrated way to scale mental health provision in CHHs. Working in this way has the potential to make a real difference for children and young people in NW London, with the inclusion of mental health professionals into these existing multi-disciplinary team making it faster and easier to provide the care needed. We’re excited to be collaborating with the system on this, partnering our experiences of an already successful model with the innovation expertise of ICHP.”
We’ll be sharing learnings, insights and challenges from Phase 1 Implementation Sites at our Innovation Forum on Thursday 27 March. If you’re interested in attending this event, please get in touch.
The NW London Mission to Support Children and Young People’s Mental Health is one of three research and innovation Missions for the region, alongside Optimising Care for Long-Term Conditions (starting with Cardiovascular Disease) and Enabling More Days at Home.
If you work in a CHH in NW London, or children’s mental health more widely, and are interested in working with us, please do get in touch.
You can see more about the work of this Mission here.
