Overview
Despite several government pledges and multiple policy publications over the past decade, there has not been a dent in the high numbers of people with serious mental illness being sent out of area for treatment. Lack of sufficient number of inpatient beds in many NHS settings and significant underfunding of community-based treatments have contributed to this. The significant impact of such fractured care pathways is evidenced by the distress experienced by patients sent out of area when very unwell, and the frustrating experience of families, carers and clinicians, and highlight the poorer outcomes and higher care costs of not having locally based treatment facilities. Concerningly the inequalities experienced by people with severe mental illness are worsened by fragmentated care.
This session reviews the impact of the discontinuous nature of care provided for people with longer term health care needs, with specific focus on place -care provision. The emphasis must be on continuity of care, which is provided within local catchments, where families and carers are able to contribute to the recovery of their loved ones. Two of the session’s speakers give their personal narratives from the perspective of carers and families of patients with complex mental disorders.
In this session the speakers will provide an analysis of the Care Quality Commission’s report, showing how being placed out of area, leads to longer admission, higher costs of each episode of care. The panel of speakers will provide an analysis of the state of care, where despite significant campaigns, effective policies have not been implemented. The attendees will learn about the range of evidence that supports providing care locally for people with complex and severe mental health conditions, and cost effectiveness of enhancing mental health funding and how to integrate local recovery resources in the wider system of care.
Objectives
- Understand the scale of the problem of providing services locally for people with serious mental health conditions, including inpatient care for eating disorders, rehabilitation for psychosis and dealing with complex co-morbidity
- Increase clinician awareness of the evidence base of locally based services (place based care and commissioning), and how to campaign for better funding
- Learn from the experience of families and carers in highlighting gaps in care provision and to intelligently co-design and coproduce services to ease the current system pressures
Speakers
Mrs Rachel Bannister, Time for Action Foundation, Nottingham
Mrs Tracy Lang, Devon Partnership Trust, Exeter
Dr Rajesh Mohan, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London
