There has been an increase in the number of patients and their families seeking mental healthcare within the community due to the extensive work of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
“Mental health services in Qatar are being viewed differently nowadays and we are receiving an increasing number of users,” said Dr Hanan Derby, director of CAMHS and senior consultant, child and adolescent psychiatrist.
“We have also been able to gain the trust of those people who use our services and their family members knowing that they will not be stigmatised due to their mental illness and that their information and health history are safe and highly confidential.”
CAMHS, part of HMC’s Mental Health Services officially opened at Muaither Complex 2 in April this year, and the centre is achieving great success in providing much-needed mental healthcare to young patients aged up to 18 years.
CAMHS runs routine booked clinics all days of the week except Wednesday, however, it attends to all emergency and urgent cases five days a week.
Wednesday is considered as the CAMHS team day for referral and allocation meetings, business meetings and educational activities.
The centre’s service users include children with varying types of mental health disorders and conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder as well as other psychological and physiological problems.
Presently, the centre receives between 20-35 referrals each week and it caters to over 1,000 patients every month.
According to Dr Derby, CAMHS has been providing seamless patient-centred service which aims at providing support to the whole family with the child at the core.
“The aims of this new service are to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to mental healthcare, to ensure the right assessment and diagnosis are provided and the recipients of the service receive the best quality care they can get,” she explained. “Our model of care strives to support patients towards recovery and self-management.
“The service went through an inspiring journey and overcame significant challenges through team work cohesion and perseverance,” she said.
Dr Derby recalled that over the past two years, extensive work has been done to establish service policies and procedures including the development of operational policies, a service model, a staffing structure and the internal and external referral pathways.
“A clear response time with a well-defined but flexible appointment booking system was established in the operational policy. Additionally, referral and exclusion criteria were identified to guide the team and external agencies in the referral process. One of our targets is providing smooth access to all families on the bases of their clinical needs.
“As such, the established screening clinic model outlines the process of prioritising cases,” she added.

Related Story