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The number of children waiting more than a year for community services is up by a third in two months as trusts plead for national intervention.

NHS England figures show the number of children’s community waits of more than 52 weeks grew from 27,429 in February to 35,922 in April (31 per cent). 

This has been overwhelmingly driven by a large rise in referrals to children’s “community paediatrics” services, mostly for neurological disorders such as autism and ADHD.

Several trusts have declared they are effectively unable to deal with demand locally and called for national intervention and regional cordination to help.

Sheffield Children’s Foundation Trust said in a board paper that the “size and scale of the improvement required” on long ADHD and autism waits means it “cannot solve these challenges alone” and requires regional and national help to make progress. 

There were “few quick fixes”, it said, adding: “Solutions are neither easy nor quick to resolve and reflect a wider societal/environmental position.”

Solent Trust, in Hampshire, reported in a recent paper that it had tried “numerous initiatives… in the past with little improvement in the position” in children’s waits. 

Meanwhile, Derbyshire Healthcare FT said its ADHD services could no longer “manage” its mismatch between demand and capacity.

Summer departure

The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has announced his sudden departure from the regulator.

Ian Trenholm is leaving at the end of this month, and deputy chief executive Kate Terroni will be appointed interim chief executive. A permanent appointment will be made in due course.

Mr Trenholm, who joined the CQC in 2018, replacing Sir David Behan, said he had been thinking about “what next” for a while, but announced he is leaving at the end of this week in a message to staff yesterday.

The CQC told HSJ it was his decision to step down after six years, and that he would be taking a career break.

The staff message said there was a combination of personal reasons, including upcoming holiday during July, which explained the short period of time between staff being told and him leaving.

Mr Trenholm’s departure comes amid fresh scrutiny of the CQC as ministers launched a review of its effectiveness last month.

Also on hsj.co.uk

We report that an NHSE non-executive director who is also the only GP on the organisation’s board will leave her post seven months after being appointed. And theatre nurses who are Unite members at a major teaching trust are set to go on strike over the extension of their shift times, the trade union has announced.