We are looking to engage with the public, patients and service users around inpatient mental health provision, working towards an improved service for the future. If you would like to have your say, contact us at public.involvement@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
We are holding a series of engagement events across NHSGGC in August and September and invite you to come along and share your views.
Background
The six Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) offer a range of mental health and wellbeing services, including for those with diagnosed mental illness and psychiatric care needs. For example, Primary Care Mental Health Teams (PCMHT) help people with mental health problems that will benefit from ‘talking’ therapies. Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) work with people with more complex or longer lasting mental health issues, possibly needing medication. There are also a number of specialist services to meet a range of specific needs including crisis, trauma, drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, and psychotherapy.
Practitioners from a range of professional backgrounds work within these teams and include psychiatrists, psychologists and cognitive behavioural therapists, community psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, community development workers, support workers and administrative staff.
Strategy
Services to help people with their mental health are being redesigned to enable us to respond and better support people experiencing mental illness.
The NHSGGC Mental Health Strategy 2023-28 proposes a system of stepped/matched care, with people entering at the right level of intensity of treatment and allowing for movement through different levels of care. It aims to:
- Shift the balance of care into the community and better meet the needs of the patients, as more people access care through expanded community-based services.
- Deliver prevention and early intervention; including mental wellbeing and suicide prevention training for all staff, expanding computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cCBT) services and supporting Wellbeing in primary care.
- Develop the focus on Recovery across community teams and inpatient settings.
- Improve the effectiveness of community services; including developing group based Psychological Therapies, offering Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) which gives people control over return appointments, such as when symptoms or circumstances change, reducing appointments of low clinical value.
- Develop Unscheduled Care; Mental Health Assessment Units diverting people with Mental Health problems who do not require physical / medical treatment from Emergency Departments, community mental health acute care services offering intense support as an alternative to hospital admission and commissioned services to provide help to people in distress where a non-clinical response is more appropriate.
The ongoing and proposed range of community developments represents new ways of working across primary, secondary and community services. They will improve care across the whole spectrum of mental health problems, but importantly and mainly for those with the most severe and complex mental disorder.
The NHSGGC strategy contributes to delivering the Scottish Government’s 2023 Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Public, Patient and Service User Feedback
Mental health services intend to continue to improve the way psychiatric and wider mental health services are delivered in future, by responding to what people have told us, redesigning services and changing how staff work with people who access care.
We have previously asked people who access services, carers and family members about what matters to them the most when they need to use the services we provide.
What people who use mental health services told us:
What matters is that staff and services:
- Take time with them and listen to them
- Take care of people, look after them and make sure they get the right treatment when they need it
- Explain all they need to know and involve them in decision making
- Are knowledgeable, safe and can be trusted
- Show they care, are compassionate and show empathy
- Are friendly, kind, competent and staff are professional
- Communicate with the people who matter to them regarding their progress and condition
- Provide good continuity of care and well-managed frequent service delivery in relation to their needs, at the right time and at the right intensity
- Offer assertive community treatment and respond more adequately to people’s diverse social, psychological and biological needs as opposed to being hospitalised.
We intend to build on previous and informal work already undertaken and now want to:
Sense check what people have previously told us and identify anything new or changes
Better understand what matters to people with protected characteristics
Seek to engage with more people to help us with the next phase of engagement
Have Your Say
A series of events will be held for members of the public to share their views on the future of mental health services in Greater Glasgow and Clyde. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in partnership with local Health and Social Care Partnerships, has organised face-to-face and online sessions to invite people to have their say on how services are delivered. Feedback gathered during this engagement phase will be used to help plan services for patients and carers, and to improve the way these are delivered. It follows a survey earlier this year which found people want to see an increase in community-based mental health services and resources, and more support for people to self-manage their conditions.
As part of its refreshed Mental Health Strategy for 2023-28, NHSGGC is looking at how it can deliver this, and how it currently provides inpatient mental health services. We are reviewing our mental health inpatient provision as we continue on a journey to shift the balance of care by moving away – where appropriate – from institutional, hospital-led services to invest in those delivered locally in community-based settings. Shifting the balance of care towards a community-based model will allow services to be delivered earlier and reduce the need for inpatient care. It will help us to better meet the needs of patients by allowing us to support them and provide care closer to home, while also being more cost-effective.
Public engagement events have now been planned across GGC in August and September. Some of these are ‘drop-in’ sessions, with people invited to turn up on the day, however a booking system is in place for some others due to capacity of venues. Please see the table below for further details. There will also be an online session in the evening of Monday, September 23, to allow those unable to attend in person to participate.
These are drop in sessions (come along at any time):
- 23rd August, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm – Bishopbriggs War Memorial Hall, Balmuildy Rd, Bishopbriggs, G64 3BX
- 26th August, 12.30 pm – 3.30 pm – Dalmuir Community Centre, Duntocher Rd, Clydebank, G81 4RQ
- 26th August, 1.00 pm – 4.00 pm – Mitchell Library (Café Area), North St, Glasgow G3 7DN
- 29th August, 12.30 pm – 3.30 pm – Concord Community Centre, St Marys Way, Dumbarton, G82 1LJ
- 13th September, 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm – Milngavie Town Hall (Lesser Hall), 71 Station Rd, Milngavie, G62 8BZ
These sessions start at a fixed time, please use this registration link to let us know if you wish to attend, as space is limited (with exception of 4th September, no need to register) you can also call 0141 201 4435 and leave a voicemail with your name, telephone number or e-mail address and the events you wish to attend:
- 3rd September, 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm – Methodist Church, 2 Cauze St, Paisley, PA1 1EP
- 4th September, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm – Partickburgh Halls, 9 Burgh Hall St, Partick, G11 5LW
- 5th September, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm – Eastwood HCC (Silverbirch Room), Drumby Crescent, Clarkston, G76 7HN
- 5th September, 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm – Anchor Centre, 51 Stock St, Paisley, PA2 6DF
- 16th September, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm – Hampden Stadium, Letherby Drive, Glasgow, G42 9BA
- 16th September, 11.30 am – 1.00 pm – Port Glasgow Town Hall, Shore St, Port Glasgow, PA14 5HD
- 16th September, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm – Includeme2 Club, The Hub, 124 Main St, Barrhead, G78 1SG
- 23rd September, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm – Coppermine Centre, 1 Kirn Drive, Gourock, PA19 1SS
Online session (this will be on Microsoft Teams, register for link and joining instructions):
- 23rd September, 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm – Microsoft Teams Online Session
Anyone with accessibility requirements should contact public.involvement@ggc.scot.nhs.uk in advance of attendance to ensure these can be addressed.
Other ways to have your say
If you can’t attend any of events you can still share your feedback with us. Please find below background information that describes our plan to review mental health services inpatient provision and expand community based provision. You can use the feedback form provided to share your views with us up to Friday 27th September 2024
Background Information
Share your feedback
Further Information and Resources
Reading some of this may have an emotional impact on you.
Support is always available, and some of the national sources of help are listed here.
Mind to Mind – If you’re feeling anxious, stressed or low, or having problems sleeping or dealing with grief, find out how you can improve your mental wellbeing by hearing what others have found helpful by visiting the NHS Inform Mind to Mind webpage.
Breathing Space is Scotland’s free, confidential listening service for individuals over 16 experiencing symptoms of low mood, depression or anxiety. You can contact them on 0800 83 85 87 Monday to Thursday from 6.00pm to 2.00am and 24 hours a day at weekends (from 6.00pm Friday to 6.00am Monday).
Samaritans provide confidential, non-judgmental emotional support 24/7 for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair. You can contact Samaritans free by phoning 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org
NHS 24 Mental Health Hub services are available to everyone in Scotland. The services available include listening, offering advice and guiding you to further help if required. The Mental Health Hub is open 24/7 and you can contact them on 111.
Childline is a free service for children and young people for when they need support or advice. It is open 24/7, and there are many ways to get help. You can call 0800 1111 or visit the Childline website.