Agenda item

The Mental Health Transformation Programme Director (MHTPD) at the North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) presented to the Board on NHS England’s long term plan in relation to mental health.

The aim was to develop an evidence-based skills development programme in order to facilitate long term resilience to the challenges that would be faced in the coming years. This would be done by:

·  Increasing access to psychological therapy;

·  Promote continuity of care and avoid patients being dealt with by several teams;

·  Develop a primary care model based around the primary care networks;

·  Greater use of apprentices, recruitment of persons with lived experience to develop the future workforce and implement new ways of working as well as training existing staff: and

·  Work with the third sector to develop community mental health resilience and support.

The MHTPD set out what had already been achieved including:

·  Model of care and interfaces;

·  Barking and Dagenham locality steering group;

·  Open dialogue training commencement;

·  Training matrix developed to facilitate staff development; and

·  Contracts were developed with the third sector for the peer support worker service;

The MHTPD then clarified that the immediate priority for NELFT was to;

·  Address service pressures;

·  Produce new systems and processes in cooperation with key stakeholders using feedback from service users; and

·  Complete recruitment and staff training.

The MHTPD disclosed that, whilst the aim was to begin implementation in December 2021 in at least two boroughs there had been technical issues. It was now expected that the plan relating to Barking and Dagenham would go live in March 2022.

The Integrated Care Director (ICD) updated the Board on actions taken to resolve issues with the crisis pathway including;

·  Hospital beds closer to the patient’s home with an improved support network;

·  Reduction in hospital stays required for patients;

·  No use of private sector beds since November 2020 when the Clinical Decision Unit was established;

·  The Integrated Crisis Assessment Hub, introduced in November 2020, had achieved a patient satisfaction rating of 80%; and

·  Improved joint working with the police and ambulance services enabling a quicker response and handover.

In relation to those aged between 18 and 25, the ICD stated that further research was required on this age group. An external organisation, called ‘At Scale’ had been commissioned to carry out research in order to assist NELFT in meeting the needs of 18 to 25 years olds. The ICD identified sub-groups at risk:

·  Care leavers/children in care;

·  Those on edge of youth justice services;

·  Those with special educational needs; and

·  Young carers and children separated from their families.

In relation to perinatal services, staff recruitment was ongoing and staffing resources were providing to be the biggest challenge in meeting the targets set out in the long-term plan. 80% of additional required staff had been recruited for the eating disorder service.

The ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) had been ranked among the two highest performing within seven IAPT services across North East London Integrated Care Services. The ICD also confirmed that the ‘Keeping Well NEL’ had been launched to support employees.

The Director of Integrated Care (DIC) at North East London Clinical Commissioning Group (NELCCG) responding to questioning, outlined how the three year mental health investment plan was being drawn up by NELFT and NELCCG. A Finance and Performance Group was established consisting of staff from both organizations. This was to ensure that investment was more closely aligned to service development, delivery and anticipating potential shortfalls, such as staff shortages, so that investment can be swiftly aligned to address any issue that arose. DIC acknowledged the complexities and the challenges that come from sudden increases in demand.

The Chair requested that a further update be given in six months as this would enable the Board to hear the feedback from service users and to further discuss the plan’s development and challenges.

The Board noted the update