North Staffs Users Group
News Archive
User Needs Analysis
The study is now complete — thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to it. The purpose of the study was to consult with service users and get your opinion concerning what should be prioritised to aid your mental health recovery. These views and opinions will now be used to determine priorities for the commissioning/decommissioning of mental health services in North Staffordshire. The report will also be used by commissioners in their contract monitoring of service providers.
For the interim report only the views and opinions of people who had already accessed mental health services were included. For the final report those people not currently accessing services and those in harder to reach categories were also consulted.
Full copies of the final report are available on request from the NSUG office or you can download the full report.
Nearly 80% of people who completed the questionnaire find that the thing that helps them the most is someone to talk to. It is seen to be even more valued when that person has known the service user for some time and has been a consistent figure in their care. This was found over the whole of the study, making this the most significantly consistent response about what was helpful.
The following things were also highlighted:
- More services to be available in the evenings and at weekends.
- Existing services can be improved by enabling staff to spend more time engaging and listening to service users.
- Many people are shocked that there is disparity of services between the City and the County and question why this is.
- You value mutual peer support.
- GP's feature most highly in what was used within a person's recovery.
- In the 2nd phase of the study the need for advice services was highlighted.
North Staffs Users Group will strive to ensure that this is highlighted at every opportunity to ensure those providing services and those purchasing services know that this is what you feel is important to your mental health recovery.
Thank You
(posted on 02.06.10 / archived 20.08.10)
Have Your Say - Public Consultation – 2
Thank You to all of you who contributed to the consultation around the proposed closure of beds at the Harplands and the future of rehabilitation services.
The consultation is now closed and we expect the final report to be due in May / June so we will let you know the outcome.
It is rather inevitable that in the current economic climate Mental Health will not be protected from the cuts that are likely to affect all health services over the next few years. So, it is even more important that you tell us about the services that you value and feel have been the greatest benefit to you so that we can fight to keep these services and help the people who make the financial decisions about where the money goes make decisions that service users will see the benefit of.
We also need to know what areas you think need the most improvement – what services would you very happily change or get rid of?
There are lots of ways you can get in touch. You can contact us in the usual ways on the “contact us” page. You can use the diary page to find out when one of us will be in your area next or you can have your say through this site.
One thing we can be sure of is change, but we can only make sure change is for the better if we make our voices heard and ensure that those who plan & design services know exactly what it is that people who use mental health services would like to see changed and why!
Have Your Say - Public Consultation – 1
Thanks you to all who attended the public Consultation Meeting hosted by NSUG on the 17th February. The meeting was about proposals to reduce the number of rehabilitation beds at the Harplands hospital from 20 to 10 and what mental health rehabilitation might look like in the future.
The meeting was well attended with about 40 people; although we were disappointed as to how many of these were professionals. However, this does mean that those in a position to make the decision can’t say that they don’t know what the service users views are on this issue.
The people who attended the meeting largely seemed to agree with the closure of the beds but only so long as the provision of services in the community was in place and that certain areas needed significant improvement.
The areas highlighted were: Crisis response service; 24 hour support; information and knowledge about what services there are; impact on carers; and accommodation, the different types of accommodation that people find useful in their recovery journey and the variety that is needed in the community to suit these different needs.
If you do or don’t agree with this it is not too late to make your voice heard & have your say by responding to the consultation online at http://www.northstaffordshire.nhs.uk/consultations. The consultation closes at 5.00 pm on the 9th April. Alternatively you can contact us and we can feed your thoughts and ideas into the process.
We were told that following the consultation a report will be prepared but there will be some delay as the report cannot be published during a general election, so it is likely that the report cannot be publically available until June. This report, with the recommendations that come from the consultation, will go to the boards of all the involved health Trusts and the Overview and Scrutiny Committees of the Local Authority for approval. The report will be independently scrutinised (probably by the Local Involvement Network (LINks) and Keele University). Once it is published we will let you know what we think of the report and how accurately we think it reflects what you have told us.
(posted on 01.03.10)
Service Changes Proposed
Combined Healthcare and the two agencies that purchase their services (NHS North Staffs and NHS Stoke) are currently consulting on proposed changes to Wards 4, 5 & 6 at the Harplands. The plan is to move the Elderly Mentally Ill from Bradwell to the Harplands, but in order to do this a Ward needs to be freed up.
The current proposal is to reduce Rehabilitation Beds (currently Ward 4) from 20 to 10 and then to 12 in the longer term, with Neuropsychiatry beds being reduced from 25 to 15. We are being advised that this is in order to improve services for these groups of people and to free up monies to offer more community based services to prevent people from having to be in a hospital setting when there is no medical need for them to be.
In theory we see no problem with this as we agree that people should only be in hospital when they have needs that can only be catered for in hospital. Our concerns lie with the timescales and ensuring that the services in the community do actually meet the needs of the people that they intend to serve.
We want to see a rehabilitation service that does actually rehabilitate people back into the life that they want to live in a way that they choose to live it. We want to see people sufficiently supported to be able to live in the community of their choice doing the activities that they choose to, to improve their mental well being and physical health.
The plans are to be formally consulted on over the next 12 weeks. So if you see an event on in your area and have something to say on this, please go. If you don’t want to attend these types of events please let us know what you think and we will ensure that we pass the information on for you.
We can’t say they don’t listen to us if we don’t tell them what is important to us in the first place, so please do Have your Say! NSUG will then work hard to ensure that your voice is heard and has an impact on developing the service changes so that they are of positive benefit for people who use the services.
(posted on 22.09.09)
Review of Mental Health Strategy for Stoke on Trent
"The Mental Health Strategy" is the thinking behind what mental health services are provided in Stoke. It sets the agenda for which services will be purchased and what they are expected to achieve, so it is an important way of guiding the direction of future services.
Stoke-on-Trent is currently reviewing its strategy through the Mental Health Partnership Board (a number of organisations that are involved in the local mental health agenda). Now is an important time to make recommendations as to the types of developments and improvements that service users would like to see over the next 5 years and where special attention is needed.
The Strategy will guide all partners; the NHS, Social Care and Voluntary Sector Providers, to help steer their services in the direction that the strategy sets in the hope that they are all travelling in the same direction; making improvements in mental health services for Stoke-on-Trent.
NSUG is keen to see improvements in the move between home and hospital as people tell us that going home from hospital can be a very difficult time and things to support people through this time are important.
The other thing that we pick up strongly involves issues around medication and improving peoples’ ability to manage their medication. Also the impact of side effects and medication reduction programmes. People tell us that they would like help and support to look at their medication and whether it is helping them or not and if not, help and support is needed to gradually wean you off whichever drug it is. You have also told us how important it is being able to get the right service at the moment that you need it and so we will be looking to ensure that “access to services” is an important consideration in the new strategy.
Please let us know if you have other ideas. What do you think would make a significant improvement to your mental health?
There will be events happening in September and October to give you an opportunity to talk to the people responsible for writing and using the strategy (the people who design & buy services) and we would like as many of you as possible to attend or become involved so that the way forward includes your input. We will contact you about the events as soon as we have details.
If you don’t think you want to attend an event — please pass on information to us and we will make sure your views are included.
(posted on 07.08.09)
Healthy Minds Network
This is a new(ish) service offered from GP surgeries for people who suffer from anxiety and depression but who have mild / moderate needs for help and support.
The providers of this service and the people that buy the service are telling us that this is a huge success and they think that they can show that it is preventing people from getting worse and so reducing the need for hospital beds. Is that your experience? Did you find that you were seen quickly and given the help and support that you needed to stop your health from getting worse? Would you like to share your good news story as it is always worth feeding back when things do work so that we can ensure that it happens more often! More importantly would you recommend that a friend went to them for help?
OR …
is this not your experience and you felt that you weren’t given any help? Was it too slow and as a result you were feeling far worse by the time you saw anyone? Were your symptoms dismissed and you felt that you were not being listened to?
Whatever your experience we want to hear from you so that we can present a more balanced picture that includes those that have actually used the service and experienced what it has to offer, as they are the true experts in the service.
(posted 07.08.09)
Newcastle & Moorlands
Survey — Thank you to everyone who has returned questionnaires to let us know what you would like to see mental health services provide in the future.
From the responses received so far it appears that you value someone to talk to as the most helpful and important part of your care, and that this should be available to you in the evening and at weekends as well as during the day.
Do you agree with this or would you place more importance in something else? Your views and opinions are really important and will make a difference, so if you haven't returned yours yet … its not too late!!! Please take a few minutes of your time to fill it in and return it Freepost. You can download the questionnaire from this site.
Thanks for your help
(posted 07.08.09)
Rethink activities
Do you join in at the groups and activities that your local Rethink drop-in puts on? There are lots of things that you can join where you can learn some new skills — or just polish up your existing ones. Why not call in and find out for yourself? … Then let Jackie know if you enjoyed it.
If something is taking place in Leek and you live in Cheadle why not get on the bus and go and find out what is happening up the road, then let everyone else know – maybe they will go with you next time, or you can suggest that it gets put on locally.
(posted 07.08.09)
Did you use Clydesdale Mental Health Resource Centre?
If you did we would like to hear from you. Where do you go for your treatment now? Is it easy to get to? Are you being offered the groups that you would like? Do you feel like you have been forgotten because you still do not have a new centre to go to? Are you happy with the service you are getting and where you are getting it? Newcastle South Social Care Team are soon due to move from their offices in the Holborn — do you know how this will affect you?
Please let Jackie know what you think.
(posted 07.08.09)
Have you heard of the Health Trainer Service?
This programme is part of a joint initiative being run by NHS North Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and aims to help up to 1,800 residents improve their lifestyles in just one year. People who sign up to the service can be referred to a range of local health initiatives such as walking schemes, help to stop smoking and weight loss programmes. The service is free and confidential and is being targeted at Chesterton, Holditch, Newcastle Town, Bradwell, Knutton and Silverdale, Silverdale and Parksite, Cross Heath, Butt Lane and Kidsgrove. Anyone aged 16 or over can be referred to the service by a GP or other health professional or you can phone them directly on 0800 141 2118
Let Jackie know what you think if you have tried it ….
(posted 07.08.09)
What do you think? Your opinion is important!
We have been asked by the people that fund mental health services [NHS North Staffs] to find out what you, the people who use the services, think is important to help in your recovery.
- What do you think works well?
- What does not work well?
- Are there things missing here that are available in other areas?
We have designed a questionnaire for you to tell us what you think.
Your views and opinions are really important and will make a difference because they will be used to compile a report to go back to the funders to influence mental health services in the future. We shall then work to make sure that this is listened to and acted upon.
You can find out more and get the questionnaire here.
We will let you know the results of our survey in our Spring '09 Edition of The Voice (our quarterly magazine). We’ll keep you informed of what happens as a result in future editions. A full copy of the report can be made available to you on request.
Resource Centre Beds Saved.
As you may have seen previously in The Voice, the Sentinel or on this site we had become aware of plans to change the beds currently provided at the Sutherland, Bennett, Lyme Brook and Ashcombe Centres.
We are pleased to report that this is no longer the case. Following our involvement and the clear demonstration of support for those beds from people whose use them or may need to, the plans put forward by Combined Healthcare have now changed and no longer include the reuse and closure of the beds.
“Commissioners were aware of the concerns raised by service users about the possible closure of the beds. Further discussion has taken place and commissioners have confirmed that no changes to the resource centre beds are proposed” ‒ this was a response we received from NHS North Staffordshire and Staffordshire Joint Commissioning Unit, the organisations who buy the use of the beds, in reply to the report we submitted after talking to our members and people who use the centres.
Combined Health Care’s nursing director David Pearson said: “As a health economy we have listened carefully to the valuable feedback we have received from patients and carers, including North Staffs Users’ Group and the charity Changes and decided there will be no change to the current arrangements with beds in our mental health resource centres. It is very reassuring for our trust that patients and their families have given these services their vote of confidence.”
We would like to thank all of you who took the time to talk to us on this issue and who completed our survey that gave us enough evidence to back up our case. You really did make a difference to mental health services in North Staffordshire.
(posted 28.05.09)
Resource Centre Beds under threat.
As you may have seen in the Sentinel, the future of the Resource Centres (Sutherland, Lyme Brook, Ashcombe and Bennett Centres) run by Combined Healthcare are under review. NSUG is being told various different things by the Commissioning bodies at this time so we are unsure what will happen.
However, with your help we have made it clear to the people that buy this service that this would not be supported by people who use these centres. We were able to do this because many of you helped us with a survey about what you thought about the centres.
A full copy of the report can be sent to NSUG members on request, but in summary you told us that you liked the Centres as they were homely, small and relaxed. The staff seemed to have more time to listen to you and you liked the medical support that they provided if you needed it. A lot of you expressed concern about home treatment especially if home was felt to be one of the issues that you were struggling with.
We have sent a copy of the report to the commissioners who buy the services and to Combined Healthcare. We are being told that the matter will be discussed with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the Council to get advice on whether a formal period of consultation is required.
We say that consultation and involvement should always happen whether or not it is formal and that new rules on consultation state that this should be the norm, not just when there are major changes.
We view this possible change as a significant change in the way that services are provided to the people who use those services and as such those people should be asked about what they think.
We can’t promise you that the beds at the resource centres will be kept open but we can try to ensure that if there are new services or new ways of treating people then the comments that you have made about what you value about the centres will be considered and hopefully will play a role in developing any new service that is offered.
We can promise that we will tell people what you have told us and it isn’t too late to tell us what you think.
If you have an opinion about hospital beds whether at the Harplands, at the resource centres, in crisis accommodation or an idea for a new way of working then please let us know and we will make sure that this is passed on to the people making the decisions about the way mental health services are delivered in the future.
(posted 31.03.09)
A baby for Stoke
For any of you in Stoke please note that NSUG Stoke Outreach worker Emma is about to go on maternity leave. We will try to keep in touch with all the places we usually visit in Stoke but this will be more difficult with our limited team. If you would like to tell us about services in Stoke and you are not sure when we will be visiting next please contact the office to make sure that we can record your issues. Emma is hoping to be back with us sometime late Autumn.
(posted 31.03.09)
Newcastle & Moorlands
The contract for additional services for mild to moderate mental health conditions in North Staffordshire (excluding Stoke) was awarded to an organisation called Inclusion. NSUG understands that the start date for the new services has been put back until April and will initially operate in the Newcastle North area and Leek and Werrington. The service will be rolled out to the other areas from October 2009
If you have contacted your GP regarding your mental health in the past few months there has been a new system of obtaining appointments for mental health services. We have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the new system is not just a system for the benefit of the NHS but also has benefits for service users too. We hope that in view of your efforts you are getting more information about your referral and are being contacted more speedily to be offered appointments or, when there are delays, you are being told about them. We need to know if our efforts have worked.
Have you had any positive or negative experiences in the last few months about appointments for mental health services booked through your GP? Please let us know.
(posted 25.02.09)
Stoke-on-Trent
The Healthy Mind Service
The Healthy Mind Service continues to experience problems and as such the goal posts have been moved to accommodate the service providers. We understand that instead of being contacted in 48 / 72 hours any new referrals from GP’s will be contacted within a week. What do you think of this? Is a week acceptable to you? Have you already had experience of the Healthy Minds Service? Was it a positive or negative one? We’d like to hear what you have to say.
(posted 25.02.09)
Resource Centre Beds
A conference was held in January giving Service Users and Carers the opportunity to have their say to Combined HealthCare (specialist mental health provider of treatments and services) and Commissioners of services (the health authority who decide where the budget will be spent & who to award contracts to provide mental health services).
There were very strong opinions expressed about the lack of consultation and involvement when changes were being planned, or even at the point they happen. There was also very strong opposition to the possibility of a reduction in beds at the Resource Centres.
The report of the conference has yet to be produced but we shall share it with you when it is and we will push for action to be taken in consequence of the day & that the opinions shared are not simply ignored. We’d like to thank all service users who attended as it was a good turn out and a good demonstration of the value of service users and carers being involved in service planning, design and delivery to ensure things are right from the start & not having to be corrected later on.
(posted 25.02.09)
Increasing Access to Psychological Services in Staffordshire
We understand that the tender to deliver Psychological services in Staffordshire has been awarded to a consortium of bidders including Combined Healthcare, South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust and Mental Health Matters, an independent organisation. We understand that the service will start in January in a limited area and that the complete service will be rolled out across Newcastle and the Moorlands between January and September 2009. We don’t have the full details as of yet but this is a £3–million service so we hope it has something good to offer you.
We will keep you informed here on the website, in the local Voice and in the next edition of the Voice and let you know what we find out. We then need to hear from you. If you have been offered the new service … What was it like? … What did you think? Let us know and we can then feed this back to those that make the funding decisions, to help you improve the services of the future.
(posted 18.12.08)
Resource Centre Beds
We understand that the future of the beds at the resource centres (Sutherland, Lyme Brook, Ashcombe and Bennett centres) is currently under review.
We need to know if you value these beds and if so why? We need to hear from you about your experiences of using these facilities and what it would mean to you if this was no longer available to you at these Centres.
Is it just the beds in smaller units that you find useful? The quieter environment with more time with the staff? Or is it more than that? Would beds at a similar, small centre be ok or is it that you prefer knowing where you are going & the staff that will be there when you need to use them? Is it the familiarity that is useful?
We need to know what it is most important to you so that we can represent these views in meetings with Combined Healthcare and the people who buy their services, NHS Stoke-on-Trent and NHS North Staffordshire. If you want these services to continue we need to hear from you before it is too late.
We also need to know what is the thing that you found most useful, to try to make sure that if the service is to be offered somewhere else – those important bits are not lost, so a new service is not worse than what currently exists. We shall then do our best to make sure these views are heard and more importantly listened to. It is not easy, but a new piece of law may help, as the people that buy services now have to report on how they have responded to consultation with the public.
NSUG … making your voice heard
(posted 18.12.08)
Stoke-on-Trent
Healthy Minds is now well under way in Stoke on Trent and we would like to hear of your experiences of the services. So far we have had mixed responses.
We are very pleased to hear that new services for Anger Management; Childhood Experience of Sexual Abuse; and Support for Employees who are experiencing harassment or bullying at work, have all been identified as areas that need additional services to meet the needs to local people.
We are pleased to say that services are being developed to meet these needs and show that where there is clear demand commissioners can be responsive to service user needs. However, we are also hearing of people who are not being given treatment because professionals disagree on the service user’s level of need and so people are being bounced between services with no one willing to accept them for treatment. This is NOT acceptable.
The Service User should not suffer whilst professional argue over which box they fit into particularly when this is done without any consultation and involvement of the service user about which treatment they would prefer or would consider the most useful. We shall be raising this with Rethink – the service providers.
We have also heard of people trying to make referrals but telephones not being answered. Again this is not an acceptable level of service. Mick Wallace, who is leading on this project for Rethink, is to attend the Members Meeting here at NSUG on Wednesday 8th October so if you want to know more about the service or put any queries or concerns to Mick about the service please come along.
(posted 02.10.08)
Newcastle & The Moorlands
We would like to say a huge thank you for all of you who took the time to respond to the survey we sent out in relation to Self Help. The results were very interesting. Copies of the full report can be sent to you on request.
We are presenting the findings to the Staffordshire Adult Mental Health Partnership Board on October the 2nd. At this meeting will be people who hold the purse strings for North Staffs NHS and people from providers of services. The most striking thing we found is that individuals view all that they do to help themselves as self help – whether that is reading a book, walking the dog, attending a depression group, going to a drop in. All are used in different ways to help you in your recovery journey and all are equally valid.
The recommendations from the report focused largely on making sure all groups are properly run & led by training facilitators as you told us that this really affected what you got from attending.
Information was also very high on the agenda as it is clear that sjervice users don’t know what is out there that may help them and equally people trying to advise service users don’t know either. We have advised that resources to fund information that includes all things that might have a positive impact on mental health be included (e.g. walking groups, singing groups, art & crafts) and not just your traditional health directed view of groups (e.g. Depression and Anxiety groups).
It was clear that you value all of these things and want a mixture in order to help you to find your way. We’ll let you know how we get on and, more importantly, if we see any results from your input and contribution.
(posted 02.10.08)
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
email:
mainoffice@nsug.co.uk
