What target has the Minister set for reducing the number of mental health and learning disability patients who are placed in hospitals outside of Wales, and why are only 20 of the approved units in Wales?
Whilst there is no target, we are committed to ensuring people can access mental health and learning disabilities services closer to home and the number of out of Wales placements, via the National Collaborative Framework Agreement for Mental Health and Learning disabilities (the Framework), continue to reduce.
For those patients placed outside of Wales, we continue to have robust arrangements in place to monitor the quality and safety of specialist inpatient settings.
The Framework aims to enable all parts of NHS Wales to procure and performance-manage services under pre-agreed standards, costs and the terms and conditions of a contract in a compliant manner. It is the responsibility of providers to apply to be included on the Framework and the NHS Collaborative Commissioning Unit has confirmed that that all independent hospitals in Wales are included on the Framework.
The Wales CAMHS and Eating Disorders Network recently established a task and finish group to undertake a clinically informed option appraisal to consider the provision and capacity of specialist tier 4, low secure and learning disability inpatient care currently provided by out of area placements for children and young people. This work will inform the review of the existing Framework prior to new arrangements being introduced on 1 April 2020.