CAMHS Self Assessment Online
Guidance notes for CAMHS Partnership Chairs
The CAMHS Self Assessment Matrix was developed for NCSS by HASCAS. It is used by most CAMHS Partnerships to help review and plan their priorities, investment and services. This matrix is now available as a web based tool...This is the first of a series of new Child Health Information Tools which will be released during 2007.
This toolkit is accompanied by an updated release of the web based CAMHS Needs Assessment Generator.
CAMHS Self Assessment Matrix
As CAMHS Partnership Chair you have been allocated access to this new tool and have authority to delegate completion and viewing rights within your Partnership. You will probably also want to delegate completion rights to a member of your Partnership or officer supporting the Partnership. This person will enter and edit data on behalf of the Partnership. This may also be the person who will develop the initial Action Plan for discussion with Partnership colleagues.Viewing rights should be made available for all members of the Partnership plus others who you collectively want to be able to see your self-assessment. Your CAMHS Regional Development Worker will have viewing rights for your Partnership, but no other person other than those you choose to delegate will be able to see your detailed comments. Initially RDWs will also have editing rights for Partnerships, to assist in the process of setting up Partnership chairs.
The new tool looks very much the same as the paper version with which you are now familiar - but with many new benefits:
- Completion online is the same as for the paper version, except some of the work has been taken out and done for you.
- The tool takes you to the same content pages. Enter your score 0, 1, 2, or 3 (red, dark amber, light amber, green) in the score box and add any extra information in the free text box. Click on the help button (question mark) to access the guidance notes for each component.
- When you have completed each section the scores will be automatically added up and transferred to the summary sheet, also converting to red amber and green.
- When the whole matrix is complete, everything scoring 0, 1, or 2 will automatically be transferred to a list from which you can select and/or prioritise for your action plan.
- This then automatically produces an action plan which can be ordered in terms of their previous priority status, the most recent update, or the scoring. It also generates a summary set of actions, with the name of the person responsible etc.
When should the Self Assessment Matrix be completed?
The SAM can be completed online at any point during the year. Each year on the 30th September a 'snapshot' will be taken and used as the basis for the summary analysis for that year. If you want the summary analysis to include your most recent scores, then you should aim to complete the online SAM shortly before 30th September.At this point HASCAS will conduct the national analysis and produce a report of the findings, as in previous years.
Who will have access to our SAM?
All Partnerships will have access to the regional and national summary information, but your individual service data will be available only to your Partnership and your RDW. Once you have logged on you can add or remove people with access to update the self assessment by clicking on the 'Registration' option.The online SAM will enable your Partnership to benchmark and compare your year on year progress, with ease.
... do we have to use this? We've only just completed our SAM using the paper version!
It really is very easy to use! If you've already completed your SAM and the action plan it will take no more than an hour to transfer it to the online version. Remember, you can, and probably will, delegate this to a member of your support team.To make the transfer really easy however, if you have updated your SAM between 30 September 2006 and 31 January 2007 you can send the completed documents to HASCAS and they will enter the information on to the website for you.
Do bear in mind though, that a newly completed SAM is easy to enter - and it will be good practice for subsequent years.
If you find that you are really struggling to use the web version, HASCAS can offer help – either by phone / email, or up to half a day in person. You can also discuss with you RDW the possibility of a support day in your region it enough partnerships require this.
Any feedback about using the tool is welcomed. There is a feedback form on the website.
The online SAM can be found at:
http://www.childhealthmapping.org.uk/self.assessment/
Please note that to use SAM you need to be registered by your Regional Development Worker (RDW). If you have been registered for SAM and are also registered for the Child Health, CAMHS and Maternity service mapping then you will use the same password for both systems.