Studies from UK and Canada suggest that ideological, structural, functional and organisational differences between CAMHS and AMHS are impediments to adequate care for vulnerable adolescents with mental health needs. However, given the very different healthcare contexts within EU member states, it is unclear whether problems of the same nature and magnitude occur at the CAMHS-AMHS interface across the EU. There is some evidence though that transition is a problem across all EU states.
There are clearly significant gaps in our knowledge about the process, outcomes and experience of transition from CAMHS to AMHS in the EU. While such transition is widely accepted as a critical aspect of continuity of care, we do not know who makes such a transition, what are the predictors and outcomes of successful transition, and what clinical, policy-related and organisational factors facilitate or impede successful transition. We also do not know how young service users and their carers experience transition. Most importantly we do not have a specific service models that promote successful transition, facilitate appropriate service development or develop clinical training programmes. Taken together, these differences between services and states lead to huge divergence in the quality of care provided to young people with mental health problems across EU. The CAMHS-AMHS interface accentuates all these problems, to the detriment of service users.