Mental Health Solicitors

Kent County Council is rolling out new school health services, which will see greater access to support for children and young people with physical and mental health issues.

The council awarded two new contracts – the Primary School Public Health Service and the Adolescent and Targeted Emotional Wellbeing Service – to Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT).

The new contracts for school age children were drawn up after consultation with people using and working with the services.

The contracts started from April – and parents, children, young people and schools will notice a variety of improvements over the next few months, said the council, including increased opening hours from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday – and easier access to services, with one number, email and online referral used to contact the service.

Staff will also wear uniforms to make the school health team more visible – and there will be more drop in services at schools, youth clubs and community venues for children and young people, with web chats.

Kent County Council’s Director of Public Health, Andrew Scott-Clark said:

“These new services recognise the need for all children, young people and their families to be able to access advice and information around their own health in a simple and convenient way.

“They will continue to work with existing programmes to tackle health issues such as obesity, while providing more opportunities for pupils to also find guidance around other physical and mental health and wellbeing issues.”

Head of School Health and Immunisations Services at KCHFT, Tina Owen, added:

“We talked to lots of children, parents, families and schools to design our services for the future and they will notice lots of improvements during the coming months.

“One of the things we were told was that our school health teams needed to raise their profile and children would like to see them in brightly-coloured polo shirts. As well as new uniforms, there is also one number so it’s easy to contact the service no matter where you are in Kent.

“During the next couple of months, we will be inviting children and young people to work with us to design a website that supports not only their physical health, but their emotional wellbeing, too with advice on everything from healthy eating to coping with exam stress.”

Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is the UK’s largest provider of Legal Aid mental health services and can advise mental health patients on a wide range of issues – including access to NHS mental health services and detention under the Mental Health Act.

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors regularly visit NHS hospitals to advise on mental health law – and are available across England and Wales at short notice for hospital and police station appointments.

In some cases, Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors may be able to advise the nearest relative or carer of a mental health patient on a range of issues, including initiating treatment reviews where appropriate.

For expert legal advice on mental health law, call the Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors Helpline on 020 3114 1124.