Will Forster

Campaigning to be the Lib Dem MP for Woking, Deputy Leader of Woking Borough Council and Councillor in South Woking Learn more

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Success for Lib Dems as CAMHS proposals are unanimously agreed

by willforster on 11 July, 2018

County Councillors in Surrey have agreed that children’s mental health and special needs provision should be the subject of detailed study in partnership with universities and others so that current and future demand for these services can be met.

Two members of the Lib Dem Group at County Hall moved an motion during yesterday’s Full Council meeting, which was passed unanimously, calling for future needs to be understood in the context of current unacceptable waiting lists for CAMHS treatment and a severe shortage of SEND places in the County.

I was delighted that the whole Council supported the Lib Dem motion and shared our deep concern that children’s mental health needs were the subject of deplorable waits and that so many children had special needs which could not be met as demand for these services exceeded capacity.  The County Council needs to understand demand properly so that children can access the services they need in a timely manner, relieving the anxiety of children and their families.

I was pleased that all County Councillors shared our anger and outrage at the current situation and pleased that they were keen to work to resolve it – as a Lib Dem Group we will continue to press for these changes until the situation improves.

Urgent change and transformation are phrases we are hearing a lot here at County Hall at the moment, but nowhere is that urgent change more needed than in the CAMHS service that children and young people are trying to access here in Surrey.  We desperately need waiting times for appointments to be reduced and for services to improve.  By partnering with other organisations and carrying out research, the Council can try and plan for future demand, but it also needs to hold its health partners to account for the services that they are paying them to provide.

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