A National Survey of Community Paediatric Services for Management of Neurodevelopmental, Neurobehavioural, Psychological and Psychiatric Problems

Background: There is a wide variation about services configuration and management provided for children and young people (CYP) with common Neurodevelopmental, Psychological and Psychiatric problems across the UK.

This survey was conducted as part of a validation survey of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists Surveillance System (CAPSS), carried out to ascertain its feasibility and acceptability for active monitoring of rare psychiatric childhood conditions.

Aims: We aimed to determine the extent of involvement of Community Paediatricians in management of Childhood Mental Disorders.

Methods: A questionnaire was designed for Community Paediatricians by modification of a similar CAPSS survey questionnaire. Community Paediatric staff were invited to participate in the survey via a link to the web-based tool Survey Monkey. Responses were obtained between Dec 2015 and August 2016. All survey responses were transferred to Microsoft Excel for analysis.

Results: A total of 245 respondents working within 180 Community Paediatric units across the UK completed the online questionnaires. This included Consultants (75%), Specialist Associates/Staff Grades (19.5%) and others including Trainees (5%).

The majority of the respondents worked with children and young people from 0-18 years-(97%). 11.6% of them worked with older people aged 19-25 years, especially those with complex disabilities who attended special schools, where no specific adult services existed or where there were problems or delays with transition to adult services. Table 1 shows the different areas of Community Child Health involvement of the respondents. The commonest areas of Community Child Health involvement include Neurodevelopmental (70%), Neurodisability (50%) and Safeguarding (43%).

Conclusion: Responses highlight the wide range of work Community Paediatricians are expected to take on in the field of CYP mental health. Most of the Community Paediatricians highlighted the challenges of service provision for young people above 16 years and the desirability of joint-working with CAMHS.