An additional million pounds a year will be invested in mental health support for young people in Cumbria over the next five years.
The money will fund a new, Cumbria-based, children and young people’s community eating disorder service, as well as supporting improvements in the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Work has started to develop the service, but is expected to take some time to establish, as specialist staff will need to be recruited and trained.
Dr Mandy Boardman, GP lead for Children and Safeguarding for NHS Cumbria CCG said: "It is an exciting opportunity to invest in new services allowing children and young people to receive the support they need closer to home, in a familiar place with the support of their family and friends.
"We hope this new service will then avoid the need for hospital treatment for eating disorders wherever possible.”
The money from NHS England was awarded after NHS Cumbria CCG and Cumbria County Council submitted a ‘Children and Young People’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing Transformation Plan’ for the county.
The creation of a specialist community eating disorder service will bring Cumbrian services into line with the best services in other parts of the country.
Cumbria’s CAMHS has struggled in recent years to find the right staff and meet rising demands.
Some of the new funding will be used to improve and develop this service with this investment enabling teams to make the mental health crisis service more effective and robust – particularly for children and young people needing help out of hours.
Cumbria will receive £1 million each year over the next five years.
The service will be commissioned and supported by NHS Cumbria CCG and will run alongside other mental health services that are provided by Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust as part of a whole system approach to ensure all our children and young people can access the support they need to achieve emotional wellbeing and mental health.
It will link with a wide range of other services, including third sector providers.