ELCAS Community Psychiatric Teams :: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

What do the ELCAS Specialist Community Psychiatric Teams offer?

The ELCAS specialist community psychiatric teams offer assessment, treatment, formulation and diagnosis for children and young people who are experiencing severe and complex mental health disorders. We are multi-disciplinary teams, meaning that our staff come from different professional backgrounds which may include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and qualified and registered therapists. We deliver evidence based interventions that are centred upon a child or young person’s goals and identified need.

Team members:

A Psychiatrist is a medically qualified doctor who specialises specifically in mental health disorders. Psychiatrists can prescribe medication and often work within community mental health teams.

A Psychologist focuses on your thoughts, emotions and behaviours. They use cognitive behavioural and emotional techniques to help you manage your mental health difficulties.

Occupational Therapists will help children and young people overcome difficulties caused by mental or physical illness or disability.

Mental Health Practitioners carry out assessment and a range of interventions, drawing on their professionals backgrounds and specific training, therefore remove perform psychological screening, basic assessment and psychological interventions.

Therapeutic interventions that may be offered by our service Include:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Art Therapy
Systemic (or family) Therapy
Trauma focussed Therapy

Everyone open to our service is allocated a practitioner within the team who will be leading on their case and be the main point of contact. All our practitioners have specialist training and skills to work with young people who have complex mental health difficulties. Each young person will have a personalised care plan that will be created with the young person and their parent/carer, at the very beginning of their care and treatment, and reviewed during the treatment period as required.

Accessing the Community Psychiatric Teams

To access our 0-18 Community Psychiatric Team, in the first instance please speak to your GP, social worker, or any other health professional, who will be the best placed to make the referral. Your GP or other health professional will refer you if they think we can help you as they often hold relevant clinical information about you and your family which will help us to determine whether we are the right service for you.

There are some specialist services that are not provided by ELCAS but other teams and services:

Psychosis (aged 14yrs and over is provided by LSCFT)
ADHD diagnosis and treatment for under 12yrs is provided by Community Paediatrics at ELHT
ASD diagnosis is provided by Community Paediatrics at ELHT
Substance Misuse support is provided by ‘Young We are With You'

ELCAS Acceptance Criteria

Our acceptance criteria below shows the mental health problems that ELCAS can offer the relevant therapy and treatment for. If you do not meet our acceptance criteria we will write to you letting you know the alternative options available to you.

ELCAS specialist CAMHS teams referral criteria (for children and young people up to the age of 18)			Exclusion criteria
Presenting difficulties	Examples	Interventions offered by ELCAS (Thrive: ‘Getting More Help’)	Presenting difficulties ELCAS are not commissioned to assess or manage
Severe and complex mental disorders	Severe depressive disorders. Severe anxiety disorders, including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, that are resistant to psychological therapies Psychosis under the age of 14 years old Severe difficulties with emotional and behavioural dysregulation	Specialist mental health assessment (including risk assessment) Interventions within specialist CAMHS multi-disciplinary team where required which may include: Evidence based psychological therapies and interventions Systemic Interventions Pharmacological interventions	Mild/Moderate mental disorders (Management co-ordinated through a range of other services including CYPPS within the NHS; wellbeing services commissioned by the Local Authority; and Mental Health Support Teams in schools where available) Psychosis over the age of 14 (EIS commissioned to provide) Personality Disorder over the age of 16 (commissioned within LSCFT) Eating Disorders and co-morbid conditions (All Age Eating Disorder Service are commissioned for the assessment and management of these disorders)
Self-harm and Suicidal Ideation	Persistent acts of self-harm which result from severe or complex mental disorder Young people presenting with persistent suicidal thoughts resulting from severe or complex mental disorder	Specialist mental health assessment of current presentation and needs Risk assessment and advice on role of specialist CAMHS in multi-agency risk management Interventions within specialist CAMHS multi-disciplinary team where required.	Isolated acts of self-harm related to psychosocial stressors, rather than severe or complex mental disorder Referrals for these children should be made to health or social care services who are commissioned to meet their underlying needs.
Neurodevelopmental disorders	Assessment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for first presentation of children aged 11 and over - and subsequent management of ADHD as is required. Severe and complex tic disorders (not responding to behavioural/psychological approaches)	Assessment and management and treatment of young people with diagnosed ADHD Evidence based psychological and behavioural intervention for tic disorders, alongside consideration of pharmacological intervention Co-ordination of management of co-morbidity	Moderate/Severe Intellectual Disability and co-morbid conditions (Paediatric Learning Disability Services commissioned to work with children with these difficulties) Assessment for Intellectual Disability Sleep and behavioural difficulties (where there is no severe or complex mental disorder) Assessment and management of Autism Spectrum Disorder (commissioned from Community Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics and Action for ASD)
Children requiring urgent mental health assessment	Children up to the age of 16 requiring urgent mental health assessment, and presenting with the difficulties listed above	Specialist mental health assessment of current presentation and needs Risk assessment and advice on role of specialist CAMHS in multi-agency risk management Interventions within specialist CAMHS multi-disciplinary team where required.	Young people aged 16 and over requiring, or likely to require, urgent mental health assessment should be assessed within LSCFT services commissioned to deliver this (Crisis Team; A&E liaison; CMHT). Children aged under 16 presenting with urgent needs relating to eating disorders and co-morbidity; psychosis; or moderate/severe intellectual disabilities; should be referred to the specialist mental health teams indicated above.
			Substance Misuse (specialist substance misuse services commissioned locally) Sexually harmful behaviours (specialist services such as GMAP available)

How can I Access the Community Psychiatric Teams?

As we cover a large geographical area ELCAS community teams are divided into three localities:

Blackburn with Darwen, contact number – 01282 803408
Burnley and Pendle, contact number – 01282 803381
Hyndburn, Rossendale and Ribble Valley, contact number – 01282 803391

If you need to access our community psychiatric team you would need to be referred into the service. We operate an open referral system, which means we accept referrals from any professional working with you, including GPs, paediatricians, social workers, schools, school nurses, third sector organisations and many more.

The ways to make a referral are:

Via Email: Professionals can email: ELCAS.Referrals@elht.nhs.uk

Via post to:

ELCAS
Area 3, Level 3
Burnley General Hospital
Casterton Avenue
Burnley
BB10 2PQ

If in doubt about making a referral please contact ELCAS on telephone number: 01282 804806

What Happens When I am Referred to the Community Psychiatric Team?

The ELCAS community psychiatric teams triage the referrals received throughout the week and the information we receive will determine whether we offer you an initial assessment or whether another team or service is more suited to meet your needs. If we do not accept your referral the person who made the referral will be contacted with recommendations about what other support is available for you. This could include Mental Health Support Team, Children and Young People’s Psychology Services, community voluntary services or social care. If you are under 16 we will also write to your parent or directly to you, if over 16, to let you know your referral has not been accepted.

If your referral is accepted into the team you or your parent will be contacted by one of our admin team who will arrange your initial assessment with one of our practitioners within 28 days of the referral being made. If our admin team struggle to reach you or your parent via telephone we will write to you or your parent asking that you make contact in order to book your appointment. We offer a choice of appointments throughout the week, Monday to Friday. Although ELCAS is situated within Burnley General Hospital our community teams also offer appointments within Accrington, Bacup, Blackburn with Darwen and the Ribble Valley.

What Happens When I Attend my Assessment?

We currently offer a choice of face-to-face or video assessments which you can choose when you opt into the service and are contacted to make your first appointment. If you are under 16 you must be accompanied by a parent/carer to your first appointment, although you will have a chance to speak to the practitioner alone.

If you are 16 or over you can attend alone although we would always encourage you to bring a parent/carer for support.

The purpose of the assessment is for us to understand whether ELCAS is the right service for you. We do this by gathering information about your current difficulties. Your appointment will normally last around one hour but can sometimes go on for longer.

Following your assessment, if we are the right service for you we will develop your care plan with you and agree on the best way to support you.

What Happens if my Referral is Declined?

If your referral is not accepted we always write to the person who made the referral with recommendations about what support and services are available that may be able to help you. We will also write to your parent/carer (if you are under 16) or directly to you (if you are over 16) and let you know that your referral was not accepted.

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ELCAS Community Psychiatric Teams