Agenda item

(To receive a presentation from Sarah Connery, Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and Justin Hackney, Assistant Director Specialist Adult Services, which provides an overview of adult mental health services in Lincolnshire)

The Committee received a presentation from the Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT)which could be found at appendix A to the report which provided an overview of Adult Mental Health Services in Lincolnshire which provided detail on the following:

• An overview of the services provided by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, included a breakdown of the services provided for Adult Inpatients, Adult Community, Specialist and Older Adult Services
• Details of the Trust’s Covid-19 response and recovery
• Transformation work, including community mental health transformation
• Investments into new patient environments
• Areas which had seen an increase in demand for mental health services
• The section 75 agreement adopted by the Council in partnership with the LPFT, which allowed better operational co-ordination of support for people needing care and support
• The work of the joint accommodation strategy group

The Committee were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were noted:

• Members welcomed the mental health support that was being provided to veterans.
• The Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health was working hard to make positive changes for mental health support in Lincolnshire to ensure that Lincolnshire’s residents could access the correct mental health support when they needed it.
• Members expressed the importance of face to face support for mental health.
• The Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Public Health was working closely with NHS colleagues to ensure that there was suitable support groups available across all areas in the County.
• Duties carried out by LPFT for Mental Health support under the Section 75 agreement were funded by the County Council as they were a statutory function.
• It was confirmed that around 80% of mental health nurses in Lincolnshire were employed directly by the NHS, with around 20% being employed by agencies. The Trust were working to implement a number of solutions to staffing issues including international recruitment and shared rotation posts
• There was a target of 18 weeks for access to community mental health services within Lincolnshire, which was also the national target. The implementation of the Community Transformation project meant that support needs could be assessed sooner than the 18 week target.
• Members were encouraged by the additional resources that were being offered to improve the accessibility of mental health support such as the 24/7 mental health helpline. Mental health helplines were advertised through the Council’s social media platforms as well as on posters in GP surgeries. LPFT were working closely with local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to ensure that GP surgeries were aware of the phone numbers for the mental health helplines and that GPs were referring people to the service when necessary.
• The mental health helpline was also used as part of LPFT’s escalation process, which would ensure that a referral was made for anybody in need of more urgent help in the form of crisis services.
• Members highlighted the importance of voluntary and community groups for social isolation.
• LPFT worked alongside Shine network as the umbrella company for charity and voluntary organisations within Lincolnshire supporting the mental health agenda.  The managed care network process allowed voluntary sector groups to bid for funding for community transformation. It was agreed that further information on how to apply for funding be circulated to the Committee.
• It was agreed that the helpline numbers also be circulated to the Committee.
• There had been a significant prolonged increase in referrals to the Sexual Assault Referral Clinic along with an increase in domestic abuse referrals. Investment had been made into both services which would increase capacity to be able to cope with the demand.
• The Discovery House Ward had been turned from an open rehabilitation ward into a reablement ward which had helped reduce our out of area patients.
• The Jarvis House building was no longer fit for purpose and had therefore been vacated. A decision was due to be made on the future of the building[SE1]  You’re welcome to leave this in, Emily, but my understanding is that Jarvis House is a City of Lincoln block of council flats.  Of course, I have no recollection of the discussion and I took almost no notes of anything.  Was it relevant to the discvussion because it was used by tenants in need of mental health support?  .
• One member of the Committee raised concerns regarding feedback received from her residents on mental health services that residents had difficulty accessing the system and were not kept up to date on the current process.
• Plans were being mapped out to ensure that there was crisis support spread across the County.
• The target for responding to those in crisis was four hours and targets were currently being met. A Patient Experience Lead had been recruited to offer support for those on the 18 week waiting list for support that felt that their mental health was deteriorating. It was agreed that the LPFT integrated performance report be circulated.
• The Committee were pleased to see that the targets for wait times were being met.
• The mental health investment standard had been put in place nationally to ensure that there was a parity of esteem between physical health and mental health services in Lincolnshire, which was expected to be an investment of around £12 ?million? by the end of the roll out in 2024.
• The new dementia home treatment team pilot scheme was proving to be successful, with a reduction of care home admissions by 91% in adult services. The vision for the trust was to support people to live well in their communities.

RESOLVED:

              That the report be received and the comments made by the Committee be               noted.