Agenda item

Mr John Ellis (Commissioning and Contract Lead for Mental Health, Learning Disability and Substance Misuse, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group), Dr Emma Tiffin (GP Clinical Lead for Mental Health, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group) and Dr David Irwin (GP Mental Health Lead for the Huntingdonshire Local Commissioning Groups) will be in attendance to provide an update on mental health services.

The Chairman welcomed Mr J Ellis, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Commissioning and Contract Lead, Dr E Tiffin, CCG Clinical Lead and Dr D Irwin, GP Mental Health Lead to the Panel. The Panel were given an update on Mental Health Services in Huntingdonshire. The following points were highlighted:

  The service model had been redesigned after consultation with GPs, service users and the public. The Cambridgeshire service was split into different areas, North, Central and South. There was a central point of access via the Advice and Referral Centre (ARC). Importantly GPs knew which service to access depending on the circumstances.

  The majority of referrals came from GPs, with the police as the second highest source of referrals.

  Priorities included a better referral system which involved referring patients in a short space of time.

  In 2015/16 National Planning Guidance identified specific priorities for mental health such as carer support and parity of esteem

  The CCG would also work on supporting patients once they had been discharged.

The Chairman asked what the waiting times were for referrals? In response the Panel was informed that for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service there was no waiting time, for Step Three referrals the waiting time was variable and could be between four weeks and twelve weeks. For Children’s Mental Health there were long waiting times, however this was a national problem due to an upsurge in take up. The problem was being worked on.

A Member asked if the problems occurred after the initial stage as the CCG had stated that they were looking for referrals. In response it was clarified that that the space was with the IAPT service and other areas were different. The target for referrals to IAPT was a national target for which funding had been made available.

A question was raised by a Member regarding the number of patients from Huntingdon being sent to Peterborough and how they had been coping. The Panel was informed that in nine months 128 patients have been sent to Peterborough and the average stay was around seven days. The total number of patients that had been admitted was less than before because home treatment had been used more often. Dr Irwin stated that he felt that the current situation was much better for Huntingdonshire patients.

The issue of children’s mental health and in particular the length of time from referral to diagnosis was raised. As none of the representative present were experts in children’s mental health, they agreed to forward the question onto the children’s mental health team. The Panel discussed the possibility of inviting the children’s mental health team to a future meeting of the Panel.

A Member asked how the ARC was working? The Panel were informed that colleagues liked the locality aspect however the contingency planning team needed to collect data more effectively so that better use could be made of community services which in turn would take pressure off statutory services.

Mr Ellis, Dr Tiffin and Dr Irwin were asked how the voluntary sector was used. In response the Panel were informed that data gathering had been a problem for mental health services so proving services were required had been difficult. Finance had been provided for the voluntary sector and from April 2016 there would be a doubling of what was spent on the voluntary sector.

A Member raised the issue of armed forces personal integrating back into the community and asked how the CCG ensured they received the treatment they needed. Dr Tiffin stated that the CCG have not specifically looked into the position of the armed forces but these individuals were able to access the services provided. Dr Irwin added that the single point of access recorded whether a patient was or had been a member of the armed forces.

A Member asked how the CCG prevented mental health problems from occurring and reoccurring. Members were informed that there was a Public Health and Mental Health Strategy, which aimed to address this. There were a number of voluntary sector groups operating in this area and patients were actively encouraged to engage with them. Regarding children, anti-bullying measures had been looked at. In addition good housing was an important factor in preventing mental health issues arising.