Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) which provided an update on the engagement undertaken to date for the Mental Health Liaison Service. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed with these minutes.

The Committee welcomed to the meeting for this item Paula Vaughan, Head of All Age Mental Health, LD, Autism & Dementia, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs, John Edwards, Associate Director of Transformation, LPT and Helen Perfect, Head of Inpatient, Crisis and Liaison Services, LPT.

The Chairman invited Mr. O. O’Shea CC to speak on behalf of residents of the Groby and Ratby Division that had raised concerns regarding the Psycho-oncology service.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)          The engagement process which had taken place involved getting feedback on the proposals from commonly seen patients. Feedback from the wider public, minority ethnic communities and mental health charities would be sought as part of a larger formal consultation which was planned.

(ii)         LPT had located a mental health team at the Emergency Department at Leicester Royal Infirmary and that team had a target to see patients within 1 hour of referral. If a patient was on an inpatient ward at Leicester Royal Infirmary and mental health issues arose then LPT had a target to see that patient within 24 hours whereas if the patient was at Leicester General Hospital or Glenfield Hospital the target was 48 hours.

(iii)       Whilst the Liaison Service was focused towards patients in hospital settings with acute needs, outpatients were also part of the service and Local Liaison Mental Health Teams were being set up to provide support as locally as possible and they would become ever more local over time. This would address issues around accessibility especially for those patients without private means of transport.

(iv)       There was already a core of staff working within the Triage Team in the Emergency Department, the Liaison Psychiatry Team, Psycho- oncology and the Frail/Older Persons Team but they were not all available to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week therefore a rostering tool had calculated that an additional 5.9 whole time equivalents (WTEs) practitioners were required to ensure delivery of Core 24 response times. 

(v)        Reassurance was given that patients currently accessing the Psycho-oncology service would not see a reduction in the quality of the service and whilst there would be some changes to the service LPT were expecting to increase the offer for people with psycho oncological needs not reduce it. In future the support could come from a range of providers. Feedback from the engagement process had already identified these concerns and would be used to inform the recommendations regarding support for people with cancer diagnosis. The East Midlands Councils network had produced a framework of best practice and LPT had measured its services against this framework and was confident that the framework criteria was met, though further work could still be carried out particularly with regard to Clinical Psychology.

(vi)       The public could contact the Central Access Point for any mental health needs and they would be directed to where they could receive the appropriate support. There was also a ‘no wrong front door’ policy in place which meant that whichever part of LPT a member of the public contacted, their mental health issues would be dealt with and they would not be turned away.

(vii)      LPT had sight of some data regarding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health and some demand modelling had taken place however the evidence was limited and the full impact of Covid-19 was not yet understood. The Central Access Point had received an increase in demand mainly for lower level mental health support rather than more serious issues such as a crisis.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the update on Mental Health Liaison Services engagement be noted;

(b)        That representatives of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust be requested to provide a further update on Mental Health Liaison Services in six months time.

(c)        That officers be requested to arrange an All-Member briefing regarding mental health.