As part of an annual scheme to improve provision in specialist areas,the deaf child and adolescent mental health outreach service will gonational from the beginning of next month.
The move, announced by the National Commissioning Group on behalf of theNHS, will see the service expand to four "hubs" to deliver specialisthelp as well as offering training to professionals.
Pauline Walker, deputy director for families at the National DeafChildren's Society (NDCS), said the change is an important one as manydeaf children with mental health issues fall through the net. "Deafchildren are not getting an equal service to hearing children and thisis an attempt to try and solve that problem."
Paul Stemman, special project manager at Sign Health, a charity set upto help with the needs of deaf people in the community, said: "The setup until now has been a bit hit and miss."
A further nine services will be added to the national portfolio nextmonth, including another four targeted specifically for children. Theseinclude a gender identity development service for children andadolescents.
The total budget for all 10 services next year is 58.2m with5.1m allocated for deaf services.
- See News Insight, p13.
