With an extra £1.3bn to be invested annually in mental health services by 2021, England is seeing the biggest expansion of mental healthcare in Europe. Alongside the welcome funding an independent review of mental health provision has been launched. Led by Professor Sir Simon Wessely the review will explore how the NHS and other public services deal with people suffering mental health problems with a view to updating the law. The prime minister has made a promise to tackle the “burning injustice of mental illness”.
Although positive strides have been made in recent years, implementing improvements in mental healthcare remains a challenge. A new survey has found that the government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health services is being undermined by a failure to ensure funding increases reach the frontline. NHS Providers and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) report reveals that only half (52%) of providers reported that they had received a real terms increase in funding of their services in 2015/16. The survey also found that there is a lack of alignment between commissioners and providers over what it means to implement parity of esteem.
A report from the Care Quality Commission has highlighted that available inpatient psychiatric beds have dropped by four per cent since 2014. The commission has warned that thousands of mental health patients who should be rehabilitated are being kept in secure wards for years on end. The report found that high-risk patients, such as those with eating disorders, were suffering severe delays in receiving care. It was also revealed that 6,000 mental health patients had to be sent out of their local area to receive care, a shocking 40 per cent rise in two years.
There have been warnings on serious shortages of both mental health nurses and psychiatrists with health leaders calling for an effective strategy to stop staff leaving the mental health sector. The Health Secretary has promised to fund 21,000 new mental health workers, treating an extra million patients every year in line with the Five Year Forward View.
Our conference agenda will share personal experiences of mental health users, provide an invaluable update on the road map to improved mental health care, and highlight real, practical examples of service transformation and new approaches to care.
A review led by the Care Quality Commission has found that nearly 40% of specialist child and adolescent services in England need improvement. The report identified long waiting times, inequalities in access to services and a lack of support while young people were waiting for care. NHS England have increased spending on young people’s mental health service by 15% in the past year. The aim is that by 2020/21 95% of children and young people will access treatment within four weeks for routine cases and with one week for urgent cases.
The recent Thriving at Work report found that poor mental health costs the UK economy up to £99bn each year, the cost to employers is estimated at £42bn each year because of staff suffering from mental health problems. The review makes 40 recommendations for how employers can support staff to remain well at work, including creating an online well being portals, encouraging open conversations and promoting effective people management.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health aims to increase the quality and availability of care and treatment, improve outcomes and well-being, and tackle the wider costs of mental ill health to health services and society. Commitment towards the target of one million more people receiving the care they need by 2020/21 includes a roadmap of actions required of commissioners and providers to improve services. Transparency of spending, independent scrutiny of investment and commissioner plans should help ensure outcomes are improved.
Wider determinants of health such as housing, schooling and employment, are key to deliver the transformation needed in mental health services and care. Sustainability and Transformation plans are seen as a key delivery vehicle for improved mental health services and advanced plans provide strong examples of collaboration across health and care systems can benefit people with mental health needs. A collective focus will benefit not just people who use services, their families and communities, but benefit the NHS itself and drive a more equal, balanced and sustainable health and care system. If the system’s complexity and fragmentation are to be overcome improved commissioning of services at the local level will be key.
Our conference agenda will share personal experiences of mental health care users, provide an invaluable update on the road map to improved mental health care, and highlight real, practical examples of service transformation and new approaches to care.
Improved access to care is about people seeing and feeling the benefits of change, a maintained focus on delivery, commitment and collaboration will ensure more and more people receive the care when and where they need.
As a result of growing international evidence and the successful implementation of the evidenced based Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach across the UK; there is now cross-government commitment to extend access to the evidenced based Individual Placement and Support employment approach for people with health conditions. This includes an NHS England commitment to double access to IPS services for people in secondary mental health services from 2018, as cited in the NHS Forward Plan.
Central and NW London Foundation Trust (CNWL) employs over 7,000 staff in a range of integrated healthcare services for a third of London’s population. Since 2004 the Trust has made a commitment to implementing evidence based employment services across its secondary mental health teams. The presentation will focus on why access to paid employment is an important issue for mental health services to address, and how to over-come some of the challenges to implementing high quality IPS services within a health setting.
People who use mental health services are well placed to provide leadership about what works and what doesn’t. This presentation explores the potential of service user leadership, provides examples of how it can shape better mental health services and addresses many of the common challenges encountered along the way.
With digital services and products becoming more mainstream in healthcare and mental health settings it is steadily becoming one of the fastest growing areas of clinical research. This presentation will focus on how the ‘Ieso Method’ enables therapists to deliver evidence based talking therapies to thousands of patients across the UK every year and the research being undertaken by Ieso. Consideration will be given to how this important work is helping us to learn more about ‘what works for whom’.
Mental and physical health is closely linked, and taking up sport or exercise can benefit our psychological wellbeing - Chevy will discuss projects he has led and explore the impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Commitment towards the target of one million more people receiving the care they need by 2020/21 includes a road map of actions required of commissioners and providers to improve services. Transparency of spending, independent scrutiny of investment and commissioner plans should help ensure outcomes are improved.
With CAMHS services seeking new ways in which to transform their service provision models to keep pace with the growing demand and changing lifestyles of children, young people and families, the question of how to successfully integrate digital into clinical pathways is becoming increasingly important. This presentation will share the insights and learning from Healios, the UK’s leading digital provider of mental health and neurodevelopmental services on how to create an entirely new experience for children, young people and families by collaborating with CAMHS team to enhance and optimise access and choice to when, where and how children, young people and families choose to engage with their care.
How can the arts and culture support young people with their emotional well-being and mental health? Why has 42nd Street, a Greater Manchester young people’s mental health charity embedded a creative programme and venue into its service delivery? This presentation will explore how creative engagement can function alongside therapeutic, psychological interventions, how 42nd Street are measuring the impact of this practice and show through case study, the impact on young people’s lives.
42nd Street is an innovative Greater Manchester, mental health charity supporting young people with their emotional well-being and mental health and promoting choice and creativity. Our unique holistic service model combines therapeutic psychological interventions with advocacy and social care and an innovative creative programme.
Looking at the findings from face-to-face conversation with over 2,000 young people on the mental health information they receive, their experience of services, the issues they face and where they think solutions might lie, and how these young voices have influenced change across the health and social care landscape.
There has been £149 million invested in CCGs for children and young people’s mental health in 2016/17 and a further £25 million from NHS England to improve waiting times and reduce backlogs. The aim is that by 2020/21 95% of children and young people will access treatment within four weeks for routine cases and with one week for urgent cases.
Construction of The Bridgewater Hall commenced on 22 March 1993, but the idea of a new concert hall for Manchester dates back to the reconstruction of the Free Trade Hall in the 1950s after wartime bomb damage. The Free Trade Hall was home to the city’s famous Hallé orchestra and also hosted rock and pop concerts. However, despite holding great public affection, the 1850s Free Trade Hall was ill-equipped to respond to the rising standards of service and acoustic excellence demanded by performers and audiences.
