Issue - meetings

The Board received a report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Partnerships, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which provided information on Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s internal organisational developments and the local performance measures against national standards.

The Chair welcomed Donna Robinson, Tim McPhee and Rachel Mayner, from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, who presented the item. 

The presentation gave an introduction to Mersey Care; introduced the Board of Directors and local structures; outlined Mersey Care Services within Halton – Adult Mental Health Services, ADHD Services, Autism Assessment and Diagnostic Service; Learning Disabilities Services; and introduced the Think Wellbeing Service (IAPT).  The information presented sought to assure the Board of the Trust’s continuous pursuit of excellence within the Borough.

The following information was provided from Members’ questions:

·         The mental health crisis line was publicised mainly using leaflets and social media;

·         A dedicated mental health response team will be available in Halton at the end of October / beginning November, using its own ambulance; this will be mirrored by the Police who will have their own response car dedicated to mental health crisis calls;

·         Once 999 was dialled and a patient in crisis was identified, they would divert the call to the mental health team; if the team was unavailable, a regular ambulance was able to attend and the crew would use the crisis number to make contact with mental health specialists;

·         Members’ recognised that during the pandemic the demands made on the mental health service were unprecedented and remained extremely high to date;

·         Adult autism referrals were also at an unprecedented high level and were predicted to double this year;

·         Mental health practitioners could be placed in GP surgeries (which was trialled successfully in Wigan); this would need to be worked through at a local level to be able to introduce them in Halton.

It was the consensus of the Board that mental health services and learning disability and autism services all deserved more lengthy debate to be able to fully understand the complexities of each.  Donna Robinson invited Members to discuss the situation further and advised that she could be contacted regarding this in the future.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    notes the organisational developments within the Mersey Care Operating model; and

2)    notes the commissioning activity and performance for the Borough against national standards.