National CAMHS Support Service (NCSS)

What is the National CAMHS Support Service (NCSS)?

The National CAMHS Support Service (NCSS) is sponsored by the Department of Health (DH) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). As a national programme, it reports to the national Psychological Health and Wellbeing Board. It is partnered with the national Child and Maternity Programme, which is delivered in the regions of England.

The programme is led by Dawn Rees, who is the National CAMHS Strategic Relationships and Programme Manager. Her role is to lead the programme, work closely with policy teams to enable a coherent regional response to major policy areas relating to children's psychological wellbeing and mental health and ensuring that the service improvement methodology available through the programme is integrated into regional support and challenge mechanisms in Government Offices and Strategic Health Authorities. Dawn has extensive senior management experience in health systems and local authorities and is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management.

The CAMHS programme is delivered by CAMHS Regional Development Workers (RDWs) in each region, most of whom are based in Strategic Health Authorities, but who may also work from regional improvement centres and/or Government Offices.

Each RDW works collaboratively with colleagues in the regions to ensure that targeted support, challenge and service improvement is delivered in a coordinated way. The national CAMHS business plan incorporates priorities relating to early intervention and health promotion as well as those dealing with complex and specialist provision. The national business plan is interpreted regionally to ensure that resources are targeted efficiently.

Each RDW has responsibility for a lead area of interest which enables the Programme to respond appropriately and from an up to date knowledge base, and to always have one person in the programme whose responsibility it is to be in a position to share information within the Programme and to other colleagues. Those lead areas of interest are:

• Commissioning
• In-patient care
• Mental Health Act
• Learning disability
• Early intervention in psychosis
• User participation
• Peri-natal and infant mental health
• Health promotion and prevention
• Tier 1 training
• Primary Mental Health Workers
• Post graduate training
• Health of children in care
• Targeted mental health in schools

Within the CAMHS programme sits the National CAMHS Workforce programme led by Barry Nixon.  This programme delivers targeted support to local teams using tried and tested methodology such as New Ways of Working and Creating Capable Teams. Click here to go to the New Ways of Working website. 

The purpose of the CAMHS programme is to ensure that emotional health and wellbeing services are commissioned and provided in the regions, promoting the delivery of a comprehensive CAMHS and its markers of best practice, and the five outcomes in Every Child Matters.   In addition it responds to the CAMHS Review (2008) recommendations that a Programme approach is strengthened through the NCSS activity, working closely with other regional field forces.  The programme takes account of the requirements relating to service improvement, service delivery, improving access to CAMHS, strengthening delivery of PSA 12, responding to the Child Health Strategy (2009), to 2020 Workforce delivery recommendations and the Commissioning Support Programme.

The programme produces products and toolkits all of which can be found on this site and the ChiMat website. 

Please note that this website is for your information. We do not provide direct services to families, but support those providers who do. If you are a parent/carer or a young person seeking support or information, or if you want to know about local services please contact ParentLine Plus, or look at the Information for Parents, Carers and Young People section of this website.