Issue - items at meetings - Review of Community and Voluntary Sector Mental Health Services

Report of Director of Adult Social Services/Lead Commissioner People & Chief Operating Officer, PCT (copy attached).

(1)               That the findings of the review be noted.

(2)               That the specific proposals for each group of services (detailed in section 3.2.2 of this report) be approved. 

(3)       That a process of public consultation to be undertaken between November 2011 and January 2012 to test out the specific proposals detailed in section 3.2.2.

16.1    The Board considered a report of the Chief Operating Officer, Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group and the Director of Adult Social Services/Lead Commissioner People which highlighted key findings from a review process in relation to community mental health services which were currently delivered by 14 organisations through 33 contracts.  

16.2    The review process showed that there was scope to redesign services to enable services to work in a more integrated way, to more specifically support the mental health recovery model, to focus more on outcomes, meet more of the City’s need and improve value for money.   

16.3    The Locality and Transformation Programme Manager reported that paragraph 3.2.2 of the report set out recommendations for each service area.  A seminar held in October for Members had detailed the key themes of the proposals.

16.4    Councillor Jarrett asked for Members’ views on the proposals.  He acknowledged that there was need for an assessment of the service.

16.5    Janice Robinson agreed that the need for a review was clear.  It did not appear to be an equitable service at present and there was need for value for money.  Ms Robinson stressed the need for speedy consultation and asked that the consultation be specific to ensure that people were clear about what they were being consulted about.

16.6    The Locality and Transformation Programme Manager explained that the framework for the consultation was planned by an established service group.  The key challenge was how officers consulted with people who did not currently use the services. 

16.7    Councillor Norman asked how officers consulted people who currently did not use the service.  The Locality and Transformation Programme Manager stressed that this was a challenge but suggested that service users could inform other service users and information could be made available to people in social housing.

16.8    The Head of Commissioning & Partnerships reported that details of the consultation portal on the council’s website would be distributed to organisations. 

16.9    The Chief Operating Officer, Brighton & Hove Clinical Commissioning Group stressed the need to work swiftly due to the sheer scope of the work.  There was a need to be as specific as possible in the consultation.  She asked if there was an option to consult in a more focused manner rather than trying to consult with everyone. 

16.10  The Locality and Transformation Programme Manager explained that officers were trying to group organisations into categories.  There had originally been 8 categories and these had been narrowed down to 5.  It would be difficult to break this down any further.

16.11  Dr Stevenson considered that the model used for categorising services was useful, as people could identify with the services.  He made a plea for the travelling community who were difficult to include in the consultation.   He asked how the crisis service fitted into the proposals. 

16.12 The Locality and Transformation Programme Manager replied that the mental health crisis services were provided by NHS providers as it required expert clinical support.  She confirmed that there were psychiatric clinical resources in services such as the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team provided by Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust and the Mental Health Hospital Liaison Services at the Sussex County Hospital.           

16.13  The Head of Commissioning and Partnerships stressed that there had been a great deal of consultation on this matter in the past.  The report would be presented to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 16 November and they would be briefed on the consultation process. 

16.14  The Chair was happy to accept that officers were part way through the consultation process. 

16.15  RESOLVED – (1) That the findings of the review be noted.

(2)       That the specific proposals for each group of services (detailed in section 3.2.2 of this report) be approved. 

(3)       That an 8 week period of public consultation to be undertaken between November 2011 and January 2012 to test out the specific proposals detailed in section 3.2.2.