This item has been placed on the agenda at the request of the Chair.
Representatives of Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Unison have been invited to the meeting to discuss future plans for mental health services.
Officer contact: Jonathan Vali, 0161 474 3201, jonathan.vali@stockport.gov.uk
Minutes:
This item had been placed on the agenda at the request of the Chair.
The Chair informed the Scrutiny Committee that he had been in discussions with representatives of the Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Unison in relation to changes to funding and configuration of mental health services in 2014/15 and beyond. He had invited these three organisations to the meeting to outline the background to this issue.
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
Stan Boaler, Service Director for Mental Health (north and south) stated that feedback from stakeholders indicated that current service provision was not meeting the needs of users. This was within the context of increasing demand for services and decrease resources. It was no longer sustainable to continue to provide services in the same way and they would need to provided differently. The Trust was already exploring opportunities for innovation to improve service delivery.
Stockport Council
Nick Dixon, Commissioning Manager, Mental Health and Substance Misuse, stated that the Council had been engaged in developing preventative services and services to support people to step-down from more intensive interventions. Co-produced services had been successful on a small scale and further consideration was being given to ‘scaling-up’ these services.
Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
Dr Ranjit Gill, Chief Clinical Officer, outlined some of the financial challenges facing the NHS in both the national and local context. It was stated that in comparison to other clinical commissioning groups in Greater Manchester and in the 10 closest comparators, Stockport was one of the least well funded. Health care in Stockport was also heavily skewed toward more costly hospital care at the expense of primary and community based care. The CCG was in the process of rebalancing the system away from hospital care and reinvesting resources to more preventative and non-acute provision, including mental health services. Specific, targeted investment was planned for mental health services for 2014-16.
Health & Wellbeing Board
Councillor John Pantall, Chair of the Board, emphasised the role of Board in influencing the commissioning decisions of local partners, and the recognition of the need to reduce demand for acute care to release resources for reinvestment. It was also recognised that mental health was traditionally given less priority than physical health although this was changing. The upcoming refresh of the Joint Strategy Needs Assessment would give consideration to the mental health needs of the borough.
UNISON
Angela Rayner, Stockport Branch Secretary, stated the willingness of Unison to engage with both Pennine Care and Stockport CCG to respond to the challenges facing the organisations, and welcomed the proposed Review. She emphasised the desire of members to engage with the Review to ensure the best services could be provided. It was also stated that staff had outstanding grievances lodged in relation to workload, staffing and support and that these would need to be addressed, regardless of any other services changes.
The following comments were made/ issues raised:-
· Members welcomed the commitment to engagement and consultation with all stakeholders and emphasised the need for genuine dialogue.
· It was stressed that the current mental health system was skewed too heavily toward the medicalization of mental health to the detriment of community solutions and to recovery. This needed to be redressed.
· It was important to ensure that the workforce was engaged, and that they themselves had good mental wellbeing to ensure that they could deliver change.
· The CCG recognised that there were gaps in current service provision and in meeting the needs of particular groups, and that the CCG would be differentially investing in those services, with a focus on prevention.
· It was stated that while the proposed CCG investment was welcomed, staff and users nevertheless remained concerned about future provision.
· Careful consideration needed to be given to engagement with service users and the third sector, as well as the Police.
· The concern of the Scrutiny Committee was to ensure the best outcomes for Stockport residents.
The Chair stated that he would remain in contact with all parties during the process of the Review and that a further update would be provided to the Scrutiny Committee in the Autumn. It was hoped that all parties would come to an understanding of the future direction of service provision.
RESOLVED – (1) That all participants be thanked for their attendance and input at the meeting.
(2) That the Chief Clinical Officer, Stockport CCG, and the Director of Service Development and Partnerships, Pennine Care NHS Trust, be requested to provide an update to the Scrutiny Committee in Autumn 2014 in relation to the proposed review of mental health services.