Liaison

Who we are

The CAMHS Liaison service is a Tier 3 service, part of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

We have two dedicated CAMHS liaison teams, one at Yeovil Hospital and one at Musgrove Park Hospital but we are one team who work together within both sites.

We work with young people who require hospital treatment for their mental health. This may mean that you are currently admitted to, are due to leave, or have just left hospital. Additionally, other professionals currently working with you may be concerned about increases or changes in your mental health.

Anyone under the care of our CAMHS Liaison service could be referred to our CAMHS Enhanced outreach team (EOT) in the community for additional support in understanding, managing or supporting you with your difficulties. We also offer consultation to these teams to support them in exploring other ways of supporting you and your families to better support you. These teams include:

  • Community mental health teams
  • CAMHS
  • Community eating disorder service
  • Forensic CAMHS
  • National deaf CAMHS services
  • Somerset team for early psychosis

Who can refer and how to do it

Referrals can be done by professionals within our acute hospitals, such as:

  • consultants
  • nurses
  • medics working within A&E
  • Paediatrics

On occasions, we will take referrals from our community CAMHS services.

Professionals outside of CAMHS (for example, social care, education or GPs) should go through our CAMHS single point of access team (SPA). We are not able to take self-referrals at this time so please see your GP or other professionals working directly with you to consider a referral if they feel appropriate.

We currently work with young people registered to a GP in Somerset (this does not include North Somerset). We also see young people requiring hospital treatment who are visiting Somerset with a GP outside the county, but any follow-up appointments or treatment will be forwarded to the CAMHS teams covering the locality of your GP.

Our team

The team is made up of a CAMHS Liaison Clinical Manager, Senior CAMHS Liaison Practitioners and a full time Consultant Psychiatrist.

Frequently asked questions
Why have I been referred to this service and what can I expect?

We support young people admitted to the hospital, as well as their families and carers.

During this time, we will work towards getting you home from hospital as soon as clinically appropriate and will work with you to understand the reasons that may prevent you from returning home so we can overcome these together.

After you have been discharged from hospital, we will offer a seven day follow up appointment or hand this over to CAMHS community services. This is so we can look at any additional needs, difficulties, or successes you have had since you left hospital so we can plan any further care that may be needed. This would typically involve a referral or signposting to another team if longer term work would be beneficial. This appointment is important (even if you are now doing well and do not feel you need it) because it allows us to share your progress with your GP should you have further difficulties in the future.
We will discuss your discharge from hospital at an early point of your care. This is to help us to plan for you to leave hospital in a safe way, ahead of time.