Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what consultation the NHS England Vanguard programme has undertaken with mental health clinicians in order to ensure that there is integrated care for the pilot sites’ registered populations.

Alistair Burt

Providing improved care for people with long term mental health conditions is a key priority for the Five Year Forward View New Models of Care programme. NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Mental Health, Dr Geraldine Strathdee, has been consulted regularly as the programme has developed.

Vanguard sites were selected following an open and rigorous process to ensure chosen sites addressed key criteria including, where appropriate, mental health. This involved several stages of evaluation and selection workshops where mental health clinicians, other clinicians, patients and other key stakeholders (including those representing mental health e.g. MIND) were able to influence the decision making process.

A workshop focusing specifically on mental health was held for the urgent and emergency care vanguards on 5 October 2015. This was chaired by Dr Strathdee. Representatives of vanguard sites discussed their plans for investment in all-age psychiatric liaison services and the development of crisis services. They also agreed to share plans for improving mental health services across all vanguards.

The vanguards are setting up a regular forum on mental health to share learning and good practice.