Report
ECHS19029
The Committee considered the Joint Mental
Health Strategy for Bromley 2019-2025 developed by the London
Borough of Bromley and the Bromley Clinical Commissioning
Group. The Joint Mental Health Strategy for Bromley set out the vision for
promoting better mental health and emotional wellbeing in the
Borough.
The Committee thanked Officers for the
comprehensive document that had been provided noting that the
Strategy before Members addressed one of the most significant
issues currently facing society.
Members stressed it was therefore important that the actions
included within the Strategy were both appropriate and
deliverable. Whilst acknowledging the
significant amount of work that had already gone in to developing
the comprehensive strategy, Members made the following comments,
observations and suggestions:
- The interface between Adult Mental Health
Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
was unclear as was how the development of the 0-25 pathway fitted
into the Strategy.
- There needed to be further clarity around
re-entry into the system in the event of a relapse. This would demonstrate an understanding that
recovery may not always be permanent and that mental health issues
were often cyclical.
- There needed to be further consideration
of demographics with an acknowledgement that different mental
health issues could affect different groups within society in
different ways. There also needed to be
consideration of possible cultural and language barriers
experienced by minority communities trying to access
services.
- It was noted that the LGBT community was
invisible within the Strategy and there was no consideration of the
different barriers and difficulties accessing services experienced
by the LGBT community.
- There needed to be an acknowledgement
that individuals suffering with mental health conditions may need
to access services in different ways and that a ‘one size
fits all’ approach to access may not be
appropriate. In addition, consideration
needed to be given to the most appropriate mechanism for reaching
more isolated communities.
- Currently little consideration appeared
to have been given to people who had more limited access to the
internet or homeless people experiencing mental health episodes who
may be prevented from accessing services due to the lack of a
permanent address.
- More information about early intervention
and how and when it might occur needed to be included within the
Strategy.
- Individuals who were held in police
custody suites or those coming out of prison or on probation were
not reflected in the Strategy and it was suggested this was an
oversight as this specific group were known to be vulnerable to
mental health issues.
- It would be helpful to have further
information concerning extra care and dementia patients along with
projections around the number of extra care units that would be
needed.
- There was no reference to the
“Healthy Mind” work that had been undertaken by
King’s. Reference also needed to
be made in the document to the Bromley Health and Wellbeing
Strategy as loneliness and isolation were recognised as key
issues.
- The Military Covenant and the specific
mental health issues experienced by ex-servicemen needed to be
reflected in the Strategy.
- As it stood the Strategy did not reflect
Bromley; there needed to be a clear commitment to ensuring that
Officers across the Council were able to recognise and respond to
mental health issues. Mechanisms needed
to be in place to prevent individuals who were accessing Council
services from having to retell their story to a number of different
officers.
- It would be helpful for an indication of
costs and budgets to be provided along with details of the
financial implications and mechanisms to enable joint funding and
ensure that an appropriate level of scrutiny of spending was in
place.
Members noted that the document presented
to the Committee was marked as version 16; it was suggested that it
may have been helpful to present the document to Members at an
earlier stage in the process.
Consideration was given to the most appropriate way of ensuring
ongoing Member involvement in the development of the
Strategy. It was suggested that a
Special Meeting might be appropriate as this could also facility an
element of public consultation and stakeholder
engagement. As a first step it was
suggested that a Joint Task and Finish Group with Bromley CCG be
established. If the CCG agreed it was
recommended that the following Members from the PDS Committee sit
on the Task and Finish Group: Cllr Judi
Ellis, Cllr Simon Jeal, Lyn Selwood, Justine Jones, and Roger
Chant. The Committee also agreed
to recommend that the Task and Finish Group be reconstituted in the
new municipal year.
In response to the comments that had been
made, the Interim Chief Executive noted that this discussion marked
the beginning of the process. In terms
of finance the majority of the funding would come from
Health. There needed to be further work
with health partners in order to ensure that key services were
provided to residents. There was a
tight governance structure around the strategy and a number of the
different strands would need to be brought together. The comments made by Members would be taken away
and the draft further refined before once again being presented to
Members.
A representative from Bromley CCG
welcomed the feedback that had been provided acknowledging that
there was a need to better reflect the Service User
voice. There was a need to focus on
early intervention and prevention however; a number of the actions
reflected in the Strategy were currently being
delivered. In terms of funding the
Government had committed to a year on year increase in funding for
mental health services; there now needed to be a review of the best
way to utilise the funding that was
available.
The Head of Prevention, Early
Intervention and Community Living Commissioning confirmed that
there was a clear focus on early intervention with a clear
commitment to delivering the actions outlined in the
Strategy. Going forward the Local
Authority and the CCG would continue to work together to further
develop the Strategy.
RESOLVED:
That
- A Task and Finish
Group be established to further contribute to the development of
the Joint Mental Health Strategy;
- The following
members sit on the Task and Finish Group: Cllr Judi Ellis, Cllr
Simon Jeal, Lyn Selwood, Justine Jones, and Roger
Chant;
- The Task and Finish
Group be reconstituted in the new municipal year if appropriate;
and
- A revised draft of
the Joint Mental Health Strategy be
presented to a future meeting of the Committee.