Description
In Estonia, more and more children and young people are suffering from mental health problems. Sometimes used as an indicator for overall mental health, suicide rates – though falling – are still some way above the EU average. The objective of the project is to improve the quality of mental health services. This fits with both national priorities and those of the intergovernmental ‘Children and Youth at Risk’ (CYAR) programme managed by the Barents Council. The project is expected to increase the provision of mental health services for children and improve the quality and coordination of health services providers (targets include a patient satisfaction rate of at least 75% and training provided for 80 members of staff - at least 70 female and 10 male). An innovative mental health centre for children will be established at Tallinn Children’s Hospital. The centre will operate as a training centre for professionals and serve as a model and hub for the delivery of integrated mental health services in Estonia. The project will benefit children with mental health problems and their families as well as professionals working in the field.
Summary of project results
In Estonia, many children and young people are suffering from mental health problems and the trend of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders is upwards. At the same time Estonian health system can be described as fragmented and with low service integration inside health system as well as with services from other sectors like social, education and criminal justice system. One of the aims of the project was to establish a new mental health centre for children in Tallinn which could help to improve the quality and capacity of mental health services in North-Estonia. The main activities of the project were building up a new infrastructure, training staff for working in the centre and increasing the competence of specialists from other sectors for the better delivery of integrated mental health services in Estonia. As a result of establishing Children´s Mental Health Centre there are much better conditions for the patients and also for the staff. There are 3 inpatient units and day care unit for children and adolescents with addiction, eating and developmental disorders in total with 21 beds and an entire floor for outpatient services. Moreover an out-reach service was piloted which is now also included to the health care services price list of the National Health Insurance Fund. During the project implementation period in total 2529 children got needful services. The number of staff has grown from 30 to 80 members who all got several trainings about various therapeutical methods, psychodiagnostical tools and attended different international conferences. The satisfaction surveys showed that 75% of the patients rated the service with high quality and 85% of staff are motivated in working at the centre. In addition, Tallinn´s Children Hospital also had a leading role in developing a concept of child abuse diagnostic system for Estonia which is now in the piloting phase following the Barnahus model. This process was primarily led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Justice and will continue after the project completion. Moreover under the project the hospital was also coordinating the network of other regional mental health centres and besides regular meetings, four summer schools were organized where specialists from all the centres participated. The project therefore enabled to develop a concept of regional children mental health centres which ensures the harmonious development of mental health services of Estonia.
Summary of bilateral results