"Epsom CAMHS not fit for purpose"

First impressions were that this provider existed for the convenience of the staff instead of the patients.

From the notice on the door, and the letter a d the desk about somebody's orange allergy which transcended all other communication to the fact that there were no staff on site at 9.20am.

The service is 9-5 and works inflexibly failing to meet the needs of young people who are at school during those hours, let alone their parents who work.

Too often phones not answers after 9 and 4.30.

Closed my daughter's case in September 2015 after offering an inadequate intervention that would have ratchetted up her stress rather than helped her and refused to discuss an alternative.

Advised me to find support off the internet.

Even after private support my daughter took an overdose and was referred back.

Seen by a patronising nurse who couldn't record information correctly, misinformed us about timeframes for intervention (was a misunderstanding evidently) and refused to refer my daughter to a qualified doctor within the service.

I'm not convinced the poor service is about resources.

Rather a dysfunctional and lazy team which is ill managed from the top down.

As the team has more complaints than any other CAMHS team in the area and longer waits from referral to assessment than any other and is generally ill regarded by local family doctors surely it should be dispersed and rebuilt.

Yet more money has been spent on Beacon/Mindsight but this has done nothing to improve this service at local level.

It is a shocking waste of public money.

I'd like to know when the leadership is going to sit up and actually deal with the real issues of competence and service to ensure our children and young people receive the standards of service they deserve.

This goes deeper than just resources.