Children in schools across Swindon will be able to see specially-trained mental health professionals if they need to from December.

Gill May, head of nursing and transformation, told members of Swindon Borough Council’s children’s health care and education overview and scrutiny committee that the work of mental health trailblazers would start at the end of the year.

The Clinical Commissioning Group, which organises and pays for health services in Swindon, has managed to secure funding of £3.2 million to pay for the trailblazer scheme.

It has chosen charity Barnado’s as the organisation to deliver the service.

The council’s director of children’s services David Haley told the committee that two thirds of schools in Swindon will take part.

Ms May said: “This will reduce the wait for families to have their children undergo an assessment.”

She added that the service would work closely with the council’s early help hubs for parents.

And it will accept self-referrals from children or their families and that children and young people could be seen before and after school or at weekends and either at school or on site.

Any children who miss an appointment will be contacted via phone, text or apps within 24 hours.

Ms May added: “The principle of the scheme is that it will be in schools.

“You need interventions where children are already spending a lot of their time.”

Ten trainee mental health practitioners have been appointed, who will be fully qualified by January.

They have already set up visits to 10 primary schools this summer, with two to four cases in each school.

After the practitioners are fully accredited by the University of Exeter, they will start visits at those initial a school, and then in January another 25 primary secondary and special schools will join in the scheme

Peter Nathan the council’s head of education, said: “The mental health trailblazers initiative is a £2million investment from the NHS to address the needs of children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs.

“Forty-one schools in Swindon have been targeted initially and trained staff will start working in schools from January 2020.

"A number of these staff are already in some of our schools getting used to the environments and children they will be working with.

“Schools have been selected on clear criteria, including socio-economic disadvantage, which is a key indicator in children with mental health concerns.

"It is very much hoped that if the project is successful, it will be expanded to include all schools.

"This is in many ways a brilliant opportunity to provide support to our children and young people and it is great news that Swindon was successful in its bid to trail-blaze this project.”

Swindon is one of only seven areas across the country to be involved in the initial mental health trail blazer schemes.

The scheme will initially run until the middle of 2021.