Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

New innovative partnership brings tailored mental health service to Camden

From July, GPs in Camden will have practice-based mental health professionals to help patients with complex mental health problems. The new contract was awarded to the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with Mind in Camden. The two organisations offer an integrated partnership with distinct roles. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust will provide evidence-based psychological assessments and interventions, as well as support and advice to GPs and other professionals. Mind in Camden will offer ‘social prescribing’, with link workers supporting patients to access a wealth of voluntary sector services across the borough.

As part of a mental health review undertaken by Camden Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in 2013, GPs and service users requested more support at primary care level for these patients.

The Team Around the Practice, or TAP, will offer a range of tailored interventions to support a busy primary care workforce. Appointments with specialist mental health professionals will be available for GP patients, who will also be supported to access other local services across the borough. GPs and practice staff will have access to a range of training that will enable them to better manage care and intervention for patients with mental health problems.

The Camden service will innovate further by creating the partnership between Mind and the NHS. This partnership has the potential to improve outcomes for patients further and will deliver patient centered, integrated care.

The service addresses the challenges of providing care for individuals with medically unexplained symptoms, personality disorders and/or chronic mental health problems. People who access this service will often have two or more conditions and many also have poor physical health. These patients often fall between the gaps in service provision. They typically respond better to treatment provided closer to home, such as in GP surgeries.

Dr Julian Stern, Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy and implementation lead for the service, from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said:

“The service model is popular with patients and GPs alike. We have won national awards for a similar service in City & Hackney. We have already started meeting with Camden GPs to talk about our plans and find out what they most want in this new, GP based service.” 

Dr Jonathan Levy, Camden GP and Clinical Lead at Camden CCG said:

“Camden has a rich tapestry of services for patients with mental health needs and we are looking forward to this being further developed by Tavistock and Portman, to enable GPs to better support patients in primary care.

“By building capacity in primary care, people with mental illness in Camden will have access to support to help them move into recovery sooner, or prevent their illness from escalating.”

Tom Costley, Operational Director from Mind in Camden said:

 “We are looking forward to working alongside the Tavistock to offer a new range of options for people who may have previously struggled to get the support they need. This will include opening up Camden to people who may find it hard to access the wide range of excellent community services available.”

The new service is already being mobilised and will be ready to accept referrals from GPs shortly after its “go-live” date in July 2015.

 

Last updated on 27 July 2015.

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Children and families come together for an afternoon of art, fun and games

Children from our Gloucester House Day Unit/school helped put on an entertaining and activity filled event for their parents, carers, siblings and other local school children yesterday afternoon.

The fun-filled party featured a range of arts and crafts activities, with children participating in colouring-in an arts shed, having their face-painted and taking part in a Minecraft lucky-dip competition.

The party also included a ‘pop-up cake stall’, with plenty of treats baked by the Gloucester House pupils available for attendees to eat.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the event such a success.

If you would like to find out more information about our Gloucester House visit their website.

 

 

Last updated on 23 July 2015.

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Life changing early support available for more young families

More vulnerable families will be offered one to one support from dedicated family nurses, as the Government’s goal of expanding to 16,000 places on the Family Nurse Partnership is reached.

This expertly delivered, evidence-based preventive service has been shown to transform lives and offer a better alternative to expensive late intervention. In 2013, the Government committed to increase the number of Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) places available in England at any one time from 11,000 to at least 16,000 by March 2015. With 135 local authorities across England now delivering the service, many of the most vulnerable young people will benefit, helping to break the cycle of deprivation for them and their babies.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, Dan Poulter said: “This is a great achievement and will ensure more young, vulnerable mothers get vital one-to-one support from highly-trained family nurses.

“This government's commitment to the Family Nurse Partnership will help children and their families to get the best start in life.”

FNP has been operating for eight years in England and is, in many areas, now well embedded in services for children, families and young people. The service is an integral part of many local authorities’ early help offer and forms an important part of wider preventive public health services for young families, working closely alongside health visiting, social care and other children’s services.

FNP National Unit Director, Ailsa Swarbrick said: “From Brighton to Cumbria, Liverpool to Great Yarmouth, FNP is giving young parents a chance to transform their own life chances and those of their babies so they can thrive and flourish. Family nurses offer the unique combination of a warm and trusting relationship between the nurse and young parent, coupled with a carefully designed programme, which enables real learning and creates positive behaviour change. They work alongside young mothers and fathers to harness the powerful intrinsic motivation within us to protect our young, thus breaking the cycle of disadvantage.”

The double generation outcomes are clear. Family nurses recognise that young parents are the experts in their own lives, while respectfully exploring alternatives to beliefs, life style choices, and behaviours with them so that they are in a strong position to make informed decisions about what’s best for themselves and their babies.

Every FNP team across England has played its part in getting the programme to this point, both as part of the pioneering first wave that began its journey back in 2007 when the programme was first brought to England, and the fresh new family nurses who have just joined FNP. Their energy, enthusiasm, tenacity, and the passion with which they believe in the young mums and dads they support are fundamental to the programme.

The FNP National Unit is housed within the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust as part of a consortium, supported by the Impetus Trust and Social Research Unit at Dartington (SRU).

 

Last updated on 23 July 2015.

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