We are calling for Sussex Partnership (SPFT)  to open a new unit for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.  The trust is building a new unit to replace the Department of Psychiatry in Eastbourne but has no intention of including a CAMHS in this unit.

We know that CAMHS has fallen way behind the rest of the mental health services across the country.  And in Sussex there is only one inpatient unit available for young people in the county at Haywards Heath.

Nobody likes to think of children or young people being held as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital.  But sadly too often this cannot be avoided.  However when we hear of young people being sent hundreds of miles from their homes to a hospital we are right to be outraged. 

We know that in recent years many teachers have talked about mental health problems in schools being epidemic.  The lockdown restrictions and lack of social contact is likely to have exacerbated this situation.  It is now so important that we invest in the mentl health of young people.

The CAMHS service at the Priory Hospital in Ticehurst is closing down now, adding pressure to the existing NHS services.  It would make absolute sense for the new build unit to include both community and inpatient services for CAMHS.

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