Since we shared our last update in May, we’ve made even more progress on the Community Mental Health Transformation programme.
We’ve now held engagement events in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and the Cotswolds both in person and online. Thank you to everyone who came along – we had some great discussions and built important links which will be really beneficial as we roll the programme further out across the county.
Other updates include:
Forest of Dean Locality Community Partnership
The Forest of Dean Locality Community Partnership (LCP) is now meeting regularly. So far, seven referrals have been discussed at the LCP meetings which have been attended by representatives including Change, Grow, Live, GPs, social prescribers, and Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS FT teams such as Later Life, Recovery, Crisis and the Mental Health Intermediate Care Team.
Extended Guideposts Support
Since April 2022, Guideposts has been supporting adults across Gloucestershire who have, as a result of complex trauma and adverse life experiences, developed ways of coping and surviving that can cause them harm and distress. By providing crisis support on top of regular coaching sessions, Guideposts can de-escalate situations and following positive service user outcomes, funding has been increased to enable Guideposts to support three times the number of people. Access to the service is now managed via the Locality Community Partnership so Guideposts can work in collaboration with other NHS and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) services.
Roll out of DIALOG: Patient Reported Outcome and Experience Measure
Over the last three months, the project team has been working with Gloucestershire Health and Care colleagues, VCSE members and experts by experience to co-produce a training package on how best to use the outcome and experience measure known as DIALOG. It is now going to be piloted with teams including Gloucester Recovery and Forest Mental Health Intermediate Care Teams and our recovery units – Laurel House and Honeybourne, in Cheltenham.
For more information please email the CMHT email at: CMHTransformation@ghc.nhs.uk
Physical Health Checks
In Gloucestershire there are 4,723 people on the Serious Mental Illness (SMI) register in primary care and they are all invited to have an annual health check at their GP practice. Health checks are important as people with serious mental illness generally have shorter life spans due to conditions that are often avoidable, such as high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
To increase access and availability to health checks, we have been developing a new service for people in community mental health services and in 2022/23, 1505 health checks were completed. This work, along with the work of the Independence Trust who have supported an additional 400 people to access their health check at their GP surgery, will continue to develop and evolve with the aim of ensuring that everyone on the SMI register has a health check regularly.
As an example, here is a case study from one patient who recently had their health check.
A woman in her 50s, supported by the Recovery team, had a health check and her blood results came back with significantly raised cholesterol (8.2). A Health Care Assistant called her to discuss her results and her GP was informed. The patient was given dietary advice and will continue to be monitored. She will also monitor her blood pressure so that any related issues can be resolved. Feedback from the patient outlined that she felt ‘really at ease’ and was ‘very grateful’ for the advice.
Inclusion Gloucestershire lived experience survey
Inclusion Gloucestershire and the Voluntary and Community Sector Alliance wanted to hear people’s thoughts and views about their experience of current mental health provision in their area. This survey aimed to identify mental health issues or concerns, understand what services people currently access, what has been most helpful and if people have experienced any challenges in getting their needs met.
You can read the survey highlight report can be found at the bottom of this page: Community Mental Health Transformation (CMHT) – Inclusion Gloucestershire
What is Community Mental Health Transformation?
A reminder:
- Community Mental Health Transformation is part of a national programme
- It’s about providing easier access and better support for adults with serious mental illnesses (SMI)
- There’s a focus on shorter waiting times
- Physical health checks are being promoted to prevent people with SMI from developing serious physical health conditions
- There is a particular focus on conditions like eating disorders and personality disorders
- Housing and employment are key elements of the programme
- A new assessment tool called DIALOG is being introduced which will help people who use services tell us what goals they want to achieve
- Locality Community Partnerships are being formed, to bring NHS organisations and community and voluntary sector partners together to provide more joined up support to meet people’s needs
The programme is being led by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of NHS Gloucestershire, however it is a collaborative effort with partners and Voluntary and Community Sector organisations including the VCS Alliance, Inclusion Gloucestershire and the Independence Trust.
