We have today (Monday 29 April) introduced some important changes to our services.
We have been working for a long time now on changing and transforming our services to make sure we meet the needs of people in Sheffield who need help, support and treatment for their mental health.
We have already introduced the 111 Mental Health option for people to call if they are experiencing something that makes them feel unsafe, distressed or worried about their mental heath.
And these changes are part of wider plans to develop a future integrated primary and community mental health offer for those with serious mental illness (SMI).
The NHS Long Term Plan and the Community Framework for Mental Health for Adults and Older Adults set out an ambitious programme of change to improve access to and the experience of community mental health care, support and treatment for serious mental illness.
You can view an NHS England summary of the national mental health transformation here.
At SHSC we are now making some of the changes live, so teams will be merging and contact numbers will be changing.
We are making the following changes to our services:
- We have launched our new 24 hour urgent and crisis service, which will offer face to face crisis assessments for service users.
- People can call NHS 111 Mental Health option and ask for help. This service is already live.
- Staff from the single point of access team, emotional wellbeing service and out of hours team are now part of the primary and community mental health team and our new urgent and crisis service.
- Our current phone numbers for single point of access and the out of hours team (0114 226 3636 and 0808 1968281) will continue in the interim to ensure all calls are received, however NHS 111 Mental Health option is the best number to call on.
- All routine mental health referrals (also known as the four week wait) made by GPs will go to the primary and community mental health team or the community mental health teams.
- Nottingham Community Housing Association is handling all the calls coming into the NHS 111 Mental Health option service and is experienced in dealing with mental health crisis calls.
Information on NHS 111 Mental Health option
The NHS 111 Mental Health option is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for all ages. People can use this number if they have an urgent mental health concern themselves or about someone they know.
Callers will be transferred to a dedicated mental health call handler for Sheffield who can signpost, manage queries, and escalate to the urgent and crisis service.
The new urgent and crisis team
The new urgent and crisis team has been created to support people who are experiencing a crisis with their mental health and/or require urgent help.
Once a call is made to the urgent and crisis team, the mental health professionals will, where appropriate, arrange a crisis assessment and intervention from the team within four-72 hours using the UK mental health triage scale.
Under the new model, urgent calls for care and support where there is a mental health crisis will be picked up, ensuring the most urgent calls are prioritised. All other referrals for mental health support and help will be picked up by the community mental health team and primary and community mental health team.
Referrals into the new primary and community mental health team
As of today each of the 15 Primary Care Networks in Sheffield will have a multidisciplinary team supporting the needs of mental health within each community.
The new teams will work directly within local communities working with the voluntary sector, wider health and social care community teams and general practice.
The new teams will be defined as being part of the local community healthcare team rather than being defined by who employs the staff. From 29 April most service users will be referred into the new teams by their GP.