Blackpool mental health services receive new CQC score after 'requires improvement' rating
Improvements have been made in key services.
Mental health services for children and young people in Blackpool have been rated ‘good’ after previously being told it required improvement.
The child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who found only one breach in safe care which prevented the service getting a perfect score.
The service provides counselling for children with ADHD and autism and helps youngsters with eating disorders.
The inspection report said: ”Young people were assessed in a timely way, seen by the service that best met their needs and waiting lists were short.”
This represents a major turnaround for CAMHS in the resort.
In 2024, families were facing long waiting times to access child mental health services in Blackpool with figures showing many young patients have to wait more than four months for an appointment.
At the end of December 2023 there were 285 referrals waiting to be seen, of which 131 had waited longer than 18 weeks, up from 15 in February 2022.
At the time, there had been a nine per cent increase in demand for Blackpool CAMHS in the previous year, with 5,097 appointments attended between April and December.
Positive areas highlighted in the latest report included:
- Effective relationships with other services, such as safeguarding and schools
- Improved waiting times
- Trust colleagues were kind and compassionate and focused on the needs of young people and their families
- Feedback was used to improve the service.
However, inspectors highlighted concerns including recruitment impacting on service delivery and the location of the CAMHS waiting room.
‘We have worked hard’
Maggie Oldham, Chief Executive of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said: “Colleagues in our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services work with some of our most vulnerable patients and the change in rating from Requires Improvement to Good following the inspection in November 2025 reflects their tremendous commitment.
“We have worked hard to ensure our patients are fully supported, and the inspectors have highlighted a number of positive areas including our relationship with other services such as safeguarding and local schools, an improvement in waiting times and the kindness and compassion of colleagues in the service.
“We are carefully examining the inspectors’ report and have already introduced a number of changes to make sure our young people continue to be supported, focused on the way we carry out risk assessments and care planning for our patients.”
The CQC inspectors said staff were “kind and compassionate” and that CAMHS were “brilliant” and they “feel heard and that their voices matter”.
The report added: “Young people and their families told us they were involved in the development of their care plans and risk assessments. They said young people were listened to, that nothing was rushed and they were treated as individuals.
“Young people and families mostly told us that they accessed the service quickly, however some young people had been referred several times before they had been accepted for an assessment.”
All the latest news and top stories from across Blackpool and the Fylde coast directly to your phone.
Never miss a thing. Click here to join
However, the inspection revealed that “recruitment impacted on service delivery” adding: “Staff were not replaced when they left”.
The report said the service’s psychologist had been replaced by a part-time bank psychologist. They said: “Staff told us clinics were sometimes cancelled due to staffing pressures.”
The service was criticised on one safety issue because the waiting room was out of sight of reception making it “difficult to monitor risks or be aware of incidents”. It added: “Staff did not always feel supported by managers.”