Table 1 Summary of the minimum requirements of ICCS as defined by the expert group

Definition of ICCS

Psychiatric treatment is provided, at a high frequency, primarily outside of hospital.

Organisational boundaries

Admission and intake (ICCS)

CYPs admitted to ICCS should comply with explicit pre-determined admission criteria (such as age, severity of need etc).

Areas of provision

Amongst other things, support may include psychiatric care, psychological therapies, housing, educational, employment and rehabilitative support.

Hours of support

ICCS should provide, at least, some provision beyond Monday to Friday 9am–5pm.

As-needed inpatient care

ICCS should aim for involvement in inpatient admission and discharge decisions in collaboration with CYPFs.

Discharge (ICCS)

ICCS is time-limited and should form a treatment pathway. ICCS should regularly review the needs of CYPFs and check their eligibility for the service.

Human resources

Caseload

Caseloads should be small enough to allow for intensive community work which proffers flexibility and for CYPFs to be seen as, and where, they need.

Clinician contact

90% or more of the CYPFs on caseload should have a minimum of two episodes of direct clinical contact with at least one clinician each week.

Team contact

ICCS should meet to discuss all CYPFs at least once per week. The discussion may be brief or detailed depending on each CYPFs need.

Team lead role

ICCS Team Leads should maintain connection to, and knowledge of, the caseload as a whole.

Access to MDT

ICCS should have access to at least one professional who is legally able to diagnose, prescribe medication and apply mental health legislation.

Supervision

ICCS should aim to provide individual clinical supervision at least once per month. A separate space for reflective practice is also recommended.

Size

The minimum size of a team should be at least four FTE staff members.

Nature and scope of services

Setting

A minimum of 80% of face-to-face contacts for ICCS teams should take place in the community.

Community engagement

ICCS team members should promote and actively support CYPs engagement with community resources, such as sport and activity clubs.

Frequency of engagement

ICCS teams should take a considered, flexible and persistent approach to attempting to engage with CYPs. Consent is critical in this approach.

Method of engagement

ICCS teams should utilise a range of engagement mechanisms and should have a well-considered engagement strategy in place to enable this.

Frequency of contact

At least 2 hours of direct clinical contact should be provided to each CYPF on the caseload per week.

Nature of contact

ICCS should meet with CYPs wider network (including family, teachers, community leaders), with or without the CYP present, on a regular basis.

Evaluation

ICCS should consistently monitor CYPs progress using a variety of outcome measures related to mental health and psychological wellbeing.