Agenda item

The Committee considered a report providing an update on mental health provision.

Mental health remained a core part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan and was prominent in the clinical transformation pillar.  The key priorities for mental health across the South East London region included improving the provision of health-based places of safety, achieving parity of esteem and integration of physical and mental health and developing an approach to address workforce difficulties across the South East London region.  Other key priorities included building on progress in reducing out-of-area placements for acute inpatients and developing new models of care for accountable care systems.

The financial position of the South East London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership remained exceptionally difficult, placing an increased focus on the need for new ways of working to deliver service improvement.  All Clinical Commissioning Groups within the South East London region had met the Mental Health Investment Standard for 2017/18, and system providers continued to assure themselves on the make-up of the allocation across all key partners to ensure it genuinely met the standard.  It was the intention of Clinical Commissioning Groups within the region to meet the investment standard for 2018/19 as set out in their two year Operating Plans; however it had been recognised that this would be particularly challenging in the context of both workforce constraints and the increased pressure and demand on the system.  To mitigate this risk, providers and Clinical Commissioning Groups within the South East London region were developing joint strategies and plans to maximise resources which would include pooling budgets across health and social care.

The Chief Executive, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust reported that work had been undertaken to deliver parity of roles across mental health services within the South East London region.  Mental Health clinical staff would also be given opportunities to advance by achieving approved clinical status which was expected to increase the retention of skilled staff in clinical roles. 

In considering the update, a Member underlined the impact of the affordable housing shortage on recruiting and retaining a skilled mental health care workforce and on patients receiving inpatient care.  The Chief Executive, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that a new housing scheme at Queen Mary’s Village, Sidcup had been developed to offer homes for shared ownership or for rental at intermediate market rent to Oxleas nurses and staff, NHS staff and other key workers who lived or worked in the London Borough of Bexley.  Should this scheme be successful there was potential to roll it out to other areas of South East London in partnership with Housing Associations and developers.  A care plan was developed for all patients admitted for inpatient mental health care including how their discharge would be managed and where possible, patients were supported to sustain existing tenancies.

Following a request by a Member, the Chief Executive, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that information relating to a reduction in out-of-Borough placements would be provided to the Committee following the meeting.  The Member also requested that any future notifications regarding significant service changes be supported by relevant data.  In considering the under-representation of the black and minority ethnic population in the mental health services workforce, the Chief Executive, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust reported that a project was underway to identify the reasons for this under-representation and consider how diversity within the workforce could be improved to better represent communities across South East London.  The Member noted that diverse community voices should contribute towards any work undertaken to define the challenge and articulate solutions for increasing representation, including in the co-production of community services.  It was also important to align digital systems across mental health providers to improve data analysis and enable a comparison to be made between the regional demography of South East London and health inequalities.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.