Have your say on proposed changes to local mental health services
There are approximately 7,000 adults and older people from a population of 480,000 across Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal who receive care and support from specialist mental health services. Of these approximately 350 people per year require an inpatient stay at the Millbrook Unit in Macclesfield, meaning that 95 per cent of care is already provided in the community.
Local NHS partners are proposing a redesign of these services for a number of reasons. User and carer feedback, along with recent audit recommendations and inspections, told the partners that some things in these services work well but that other things need to change for the better.
Through the proposed redesign NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS South Cheshire CCG, NHS Vale Royal CCG and Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust want to:
- provide new services so that there is better access for people to help keep them well and active in the community
- provide much greater choice of services for those in, or at risk of, crisis;
- support people with dementia and those who care for them to stay in their own surroundings
Service users and their carers have shared their thoughts; describing that they “deserve to thrive, not just survive”, that they want responsive community services available 24/7 and they do not want to be admitted to hospital unless it is absolutely necessary.
For these reasons, the local NHS partners as mentioned above have developed a set of proposals that puts early intervention and prevention at the heart of adult and older people’s specialist mental health services and, if introduced, will provide:
- An improved community mental health service that helps people get better more quickly and prevents hospital admissions
- A 24-hour crisis support service for people who are acutely unwell
- A dementia outreach service that visits people in their own homes
- An improved experience for people who need hospital care.
Have your say
You can #JoinTheConversation and have your say on the proposals put forward by local NHS partners in many ways:
- By completing the online questionnaire available by clicking here
- By attending one of the six public events where you can have your say
- By telephoning freephone number 0808 169 1189 if you need help completing the survey or require a paper copy.
Alongside the main consultation document there are a number of supporting documents – held on the NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG website that people can read for further information about the case for change and proposals for the redesign for adult and older people’s specialist mental health services.
Please call 0808 169 1189 if you require this information in another language or an alternative format such as large print, braille or audio.
