North Staffs Users Group
News
Healthy Minds Launch
The long-awaited and much-relied-upon "Healthy Minds" project will be launched on Friday 27th June with all the GP’s in the Stoke area coming into the scheme from Monday 30th June.
The scheme is set to deliver increased access to psychological therapies for those who go to their GP with mild to moderate mental health conditions. The aim of the project is to ensure that service users are directed to this new service to get the help that they need and try to prevent the mental health condition from getting to the level where more specialist services are needed.
We are assured that there will be much more choice in the service and that it will help to lower admission rates into hospital and reduce prescribing rates. So we need to know your experiences of the service, both good and bad, to help input a service user perspective into evaluations as the service is reviewed over the next 6–12 months.
We need your input to ensure that the service user perspective is considered and it doesn’t just come down to numbers and bums on seats.
Please contact Emma if you have anything to report of the Healthy Minds Service in Stoke.
(posted 01.07.08)
Service Re-design in Inpatient facilities.
We have been asked to sit on a group currently looking at Inpatient services provided by Combined Health Care (Harplands and the Resource Centre Beds). The aim of the group is to look at redesigning services with a view to offering more choice and trying to prevent admission where possible.
We need to hear of your experiences, both good and bad, to try to ensure that these experiences help to guide some of the thinking about what improvements need to be made. Providers need to know what they do well so we can ask for more of that and less of the things that you do not like.
If you have any comments to make about how you think Inpatient facilities should be developed and the services that they should offer please contact NSUG and make your voice heard.
(posted 01.07.08)
Improving Access to Physiological Therapies in Newcastle and the Moorlands.
There has been a lot of talk about the money that has been awarded to Stoke in this area and the Healthy Minds project. Well finally, Newcastle and the Moorlands may also be seeing improvements in this area.
Although unsuccessful in securing additional funding, there has now been a commitment from the Joint Commissioning Unit to proceed with a new service regardless. This new service will be aimed at people who have mild to moderate mental health needs. At the moment there are few details as to what this new service will look like and given that it will be a Staffordshire wide service it will be more of a challenge to meet the needs of people in Newcastle and the Moorlands and the likes of Tamworth and Cannock.
We will keep you posted as things progress. If you have any views on how you think a new service for those with mild to moderate symptoms should look please contact Jackie.
(posted 01.07.08)
Stoke
Stoke look to have been awarded increased investment into the project to Increase Access to Psychological Therapies. The bid for government funding has been successful but at the time of writing it is not known exactly how much will be awarded.
It seems that this money will be used to extend the Healthy Minds project, due to be rolled out across the city in July. It is hoped that with the extra money individuals can refer themselves into the Healthy Minds Service and not require a GP referral.
Tell us what you think by email
(posted 28.04.08)
Newcastle and Moorlands
NSUG has been asked along with South Staffordshire Network for Mental Health to do a survey of the self-help services currently operating in Staffordshire. It is hoped that once the survey has been done to show what is currently available this will help to identify gaps in services which will hopefully lead to commissioners making more informed decisions when they look at spending form the new Joint Commissioning Unit in Staffordshire.
So if you do go to a self-help group we want to hear from you about what you think of it. Alternatively if you feel that a group of like-minded people would really help you but there is nothing in your area, or you don’t like what there is; please let us know by email.
(posted 28.04.08)
New service contract awarded to deliver mental health services in primary care services such as GP’s.
Stoke Primary Care Trust have recently awarded a contract to Rethink to deliver services for people with mild to moderate mental health needs in the city. Recruitment of staff is currently underway and referrals to the new service are expected from June this year
The service to be offered is aimed at helping people to help themselves in their recovery process, ensuring services are most appropriate to their needs and delivered closest to them in the community.
We would be very interested to hear about your experience of this new service when it starts and to monitor to see if it actually delivers what it says it will to the service users themselves or whether it is just good on paper.
(posted 13.03.08)
Mental Health Services in North Staffordshire
After undertaking to increase the variety of services offered to residents of Newcastle and the Moorlands North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust seem to be putting their money where their mouth is and have agreed to reinstate a contract previously awarded to Changes that was cut. It is hoped that the new service will be up and running soon.
If you have any comments about the variety of services that you have been offered or services that you would like to see available please contact us — we would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the changing face of mental health services.
(posted 13.03.08)
address:
The Dudson Centre,
Hanley,
Stoke on Trent
ST1 5DD
telephone:
01782-683043
fax:
01782 212224
email:
mainoffice@nsug.co.uk
