THE service which provides mental health support for children and young people in Hampshire has been given a 'good' rating by the health watchdog.

Hampshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) has been given an overall rating of ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and assessed ‘outstanding’ for the caring category.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides the services in Hampshire CAMHS, was inspected by the CQC in autumn last year after the organisation had previously been assessed as ‘requires improvement’ in September 2016.

In the CQC’s report, Hampshire CAMHS have been recognised for improvements made working with families and carers in its Basingstoke services; a pharmacy pilot which improves the process of dispensing medication; and innovate campaigns, which sees staff working with children, young people and the local community, spreading the word about the importance of mental health and wellbeing.

Chief executive Sam Allen said: “At Sussex Partnership, we value the CQC’s role in helping us improve care and treatment for the patients, families and local communities we serve.

"I’m delighted we have moved from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ because it reflects our passion for providing high quality patient care and working with carers, families and our partners to learn and improve. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in helping us do this.”

CAMHS is running its year-long Everybody Campaign to be run collaboratively with young people, families and local organisations.

To find out more about Hampshire CAMHS and the Everybody Campaign, go to sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/Hampshire-CAMHS.