Meeting the demands of today’s world
We know that psychological, physical and social care and services need to change to meet the demands of today’s world. Since COVID alone:
- people with existing mental health problems have seen those problems get worse
- about 20,000 people have new anxiety and depression of which about 10,000 are likely to seek support
- pressure on the NHS workforce and demand for services has increased.
We know it can be difficult for people to get the right care and support in an easy way, when and when they need it. An increasing number of people have ongoing ‘complex’ mental health issues, e.g., where they are dealing with more than one problem and need specialist care and support.
People must overcome too many barriers to get the care they need in the current system. For example, they may be told:
- not to go to A & E
- it isn’t possible to give them a diagnosis of their mental health problem
- there isn’t enough time to give them the care and support they need
- services are full or over-flowing and can’t accept anyone else
- they are too unstable
- they don’t meet the set criteria for treatments and / or care
This has to change. It is not acceptable for people to have to struggle to get the help they need, or for the professionals to feel unable to provide the right support at the right time.
New model
To move services, support and care to where it needs to be, we will be testing a new model which aims to:
- provide holistic, person-centred care
- have a more joined-up approach with services working together, removing ‘thresholds and barriers to access
- involve service users and carers as equal partners in their care
- build in involvement and co-production at all levels of service design delivery, and
- deliver needs-led personalised, trauma-informed care
The new joined up model will operate in what we are calling Integrated Community Mental Health ‘Hubs’, which are close to people’s communities and aligned to local care partnerships (LCPs).