Agenda item

This report serves to inform the Committee of the decision made by NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board on 5 September 2023 to approve the Section 136 Pathway and Health Based Place of Safety Service (HBoS) Improvement Decision Making Business Case (DMBC). 

Discussion:

Members considered a report which informed the Committee of the decision made by NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board on 5 September 2023 to approve the Section 136 Pathway and Health Based Place of Safety Service (HBoS) Improvement Decision Making Business Case (DMBC).  

The Programme Director for NHS Kent and Medway updated Members that a contract had been awarded to HESTIA, a third sector provider, for a 5-bed crisis house in Medway from December and the safe haven unit would be located on the MFT site and operate 24/7 from April. Councillor Browne disclosed an interest as an employee of HESTIA and left the meeting for the remainder of this item.

The following issues were discussed:

·       Centralisation of the HBPoS within Kent and Medway – Members were advised there were currently five assessment rooms across three hospital sites. This led to difficulties in retaining staff as the teams were very small. Staff were looking forward to working in a bigger team in a centralised unit.

·       Mental Health Nurse Pilot with the Police – why this had not been continued was questions and the Programme Director advised that, while the pilot had been helpful, the impact on reducing S.136 cases had not been as great as expected. KMPT were being commissioned to provide a one-hour urgent response service for the police and ambulance service.

·       Arrests and assessments - in response to a query when it was decided that a person would be arrested instead of being detained under S.136, Members were advised that each police custody suite had access to a mental health clinician who they could refer to. This allowed, where appropriate, for a person to be diverted from the prison system to the health system. The Assistant Director – Adult Social Care added that Advanced Mental Health Practitioner could also assess a person to see if they needed to be sectioned and that there were different routes to try and stop people being sent to a police station. Work was underway on looking at how to ensure the police only intervened in a mental health case when appropriate.

·       Mental health services in Medway – with reference to the loss of mental health beds in Medway, when Medway would receive the same level of service as other areas was queried. Members were advised that there were no acute inpatient facilities in Medway, but an assurance was given that Medway had the same level of community mental health services as in Kent. The NHS long term plan was to find alternatives to acute mental health beds, which should be last resort. The first crisis house would be in Medway in December and the first co-located safe haven from April.

·       Impact of proposal on police – Members were advised that travel impact assessments showed a likely reduction in ambulance and police travel time and that the police were in favour of the proposal.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)    note the decision made by NHS Kent and Medway to approve the Decision-Making Business Case.

b)    request an update on the new centralised Health Based Place of Safety Service after a meaningful period of time.