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Mental Health Services: Hertfordshire

Volume 497: debated on Wednesday 14 October 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has allocated for provision of mental health services in west Hertfordshire for 2009-10. (289409)

Funding is allocated to primary care trusts and they are responsible for commissioning services, including mental health services to meet the needs of the communities that they serve.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health at what locations in Hertfordshire severely mentally impaired children may be treated; and what choice parents have about the location at which treatment is provided. (289411)

It is for primary care trusts to commission services in order to ensure that Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) services are available to the children and young people for which they are responsible, taking into account the needs and wishes of the patients and their carers.

The Department provided £2.5 million capital funding to enable Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to recently refurbish a facility for children and young people being treated for mental health problems, specifically designed to eliminate the inappropriate use of adult psychiatric wards by children and young people.

The East of England Strategic Health Authority has advised that on 17 September 2009 the £7 million redevelopment of Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust was officially re-opened. This newly expanded and upgraded unit will accommodate 16 young people (up to the age of 18); with several of the beds earmarked for young people with eating disorders. This extra capacity means the trust will be able to care for the most vulnerable young people who need in-patient care within the county, and in easy reach of their families.