Mental Health Services

(asked on 2nd December 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements they have established to monitor progress on the implementation of the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat.


Answered by
Earl Howe Portrait
Earl Howe
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This question was answered on 16th December 2014

The national Crisis Care Concordat was published in February to improve service responses to people in mental health crisis. There is a specific emphasis on delivering improved outcomes for people in crisis at a local level. Partner organisations are expected to demonstrate their commitments by signing up to a local declaration and agreeing a joint action plan to bring about the improvements needed.

We are asking every area to develop a shared action plan and commit to review, monitor and track improvements. In particular, we have asked for a commitment from all areas to reduce the use of police stations as places of safety.

The particular focus on Local Crisis Declarations is designed to enable each partnership to understand the issues in their area and develop solutions.

All localities are working to have their declarations agreed by all the relevant local agencies by the end of the year. We are working closely with the mental health charity Mind to support the work in localities.

Declarations have already been made by London, Portsmouth, Wiltshire, Kent, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Durham and Darlington, Bedfordshire & Luton, North Yorkshire & York, Cheshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Doncaster, Norfolk, Suffolk, Devon & Cornwall and Nottinghamshire. Plans are in place for all other local areas to agree their local declarations by the end of the year.

Signed local declarations and the agreed action plans have been made available on a national website to demonstrate coverage across England. This is available at:

www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk

The Concordat does not specify which organisation should lead this work locally. As part of Operational Resilience and Capacity Planning for 2014-15 NHS England is asking for evidence of sign up to local mental health crisis care concordat arrangements as part of local plans.

Health and wellbeing boards have a pivotal role in delivery by bringing together health and social care commissioners, the local community and wider partners. Through the board, these partners work together to identify the health and wellbeing needs of their local population. Some areas have managed, and are managing, the agreement of their local crisis declaration through their Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Department has commissioned an evaluation of the impact of the national Concordat.

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