Agenda item

This paper provides an update on the following areas:

·       The transformation of the wider mental health services, in particular the transformation of community mental health services and urgent and emergency care mental health services.

·       The transformation of dementia services, including the redesign of dementia services for people with complex needs

Discussion:

Members considered a paper which provided an update on the transformation of the wider mental health services, in particular the transformation of community mental health services and urgent and emergency care mental health services. It also provided an update on the transformation of dementia services, including the redesign of dementia services for people with complex needs.

The following issues were discussed:

·         Mental Health Together model being rolled out across Kent and Medway – the locations of these sites in Medway would be provided to Members.

·         Data Harmonisation - how quickly the coding issue would be fixed which was resulting in some cases of a dementia diagnosis not appearing on a GP practice’s dementia register was queried. Members were advised the coding needed to happen in the GP practice in order to be entered on the dementia register. The CCG was identifying those GP practices where there was a significant variation and supporting them to review their lists.

·         GPs with an Enhanced Role – whether GPs would have sufficient time to carry out this role, how advanced the programme was and whether this would be affected by GP shortages were queried. Members were advised that this was a pilot based in Rochester, Medway South and Chatham. If successful, it would transform how community mental health services worked.  GPs would be able to diagnose medium levels of dementia and this would also free up capacity with partners.

·         Crisis Team – in response to a comment that support was not always available immediately after diagnosis and before entering crisis, Members were advised that a new service was currently being evaluated which enabled Dementia Coordinators in each Primary Care Network to provide support for people as they progressed on the dementia pathway. A point was also made that the crisis team was not as effective as it should be. There needed to be a focus on ethnic minority families who often did not ask for help until the last minute.  Members were advised that the CCG was working with partners to find a solution for Medway.

·         Safe Haven – in terms of the opening hours for this service, the CCG advised these were not open all day. The current contract had expired, which presented an opportunity to review this service.

·         Talking therapies – reference was made to long waiting lists. An undertaking was given to provide Members with an update on this.

·         Medway Primary Care Mental Health team – a point was made that this team was finding it difficult to find a location to work from and needed to be co-located to be effective. The CCG advised that they were discussing with local GPs to understand what room space and capacity was available. Concerns about the team not being co-located would be fed back to relevant CCG colleagues.

·         Admiral Nursing – in response to a comment that this service was overloaded and what was being done to support them, the CCG assured Members this was a valued service. The review would allow the nurses to set out what they needed, but had not concluded yet.

·         Levels of investment in Medway – the CCG commented that levels of investment were significant and a breakdown would be provided.

·         Memory assessment – what was being done to transform the memory assessment pathway to enable people to receive a diagnosis within six weeks of referral was questioned. The CCG advised work was ongoing to improve this service and they hoped to see significant improvements. In response to whether the 6 weeks target could be guaranteed, the CCG advised this was the ambition but the backlog of 300 people in Medway on the waiting list needed to be tackled first.

·         Medway Dementia Alliance – in terms of plans to build up this Alliance, the Director of Public Health advised this had developed into a broader alliance, for which he would provide a briefing note.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)  agreed to note the progress update in the report.

b) agreed that regular updates on Kent and Medway’s mental health and dementia improvement programme to continue to be brought for information and discussion to this Committee.