Needs Assessment
Over the past four years we have undertaken a number of CAMHS needs assessments for a variety of clients, as stand-alone projects and as part of wider Strategy development processes. Our approach combines an epidemiologically based methodology led by Dr Lois Lodge, with the collection of evidence from stakeholders and identification of priority groups. Our needs assessments are designed to provide information to inform CAMHS commissioning, and serve as a starting point for further work by identifying gaps in local knowledge and highlighting areas of unmet or unidentified need. They may be accompanied by a full service mapping and effectiveness review, to show what services exist across the whole system of CAMHS and to evaluate their success in meeting the needs identified.
Our view is that a needs assessment cannot be prescriptive about what must be done: instead, it informs the discretionary judgment of the relevant commissioning bodies. We expect the findings of our needs assessments to be considered and validated by stakeholders before being translated into plans for service development. Once the findings of both the needs assessment and the service review are known and have been debated, it is possible to align need, demand and supply more effectively and to construct a coherent Strategy for the future of CAMHS in a local area. Read Strategies to find out more about this wider process. If you are interested in commissioning a needs assessment, please contact us!