Mental health support designed around needs of communities
As the NHS continues to shift its national focus away from hospitals and into communities, more and more of the care and treatment we access will become centred within our local neighbourhoods.
This localised approach has already been happening with NHFT's Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) for a few years - and now the latest phase of redesigning this service around the needs of the communities it serves has just been completed.
CMHTs are for people with complex mental health difficulties who need more intensive and specialist support than other local mental health services can provide. This includes severe illnesses like psychosis or bipolar disorder as well as mental health conditions complicated by other factors like autism and ADHD or substance misuse.
The teams provide assessment, monitoring, support and treatment and work with service users to develop a personal recovery plan based on their individual needs.
Under the service redesign, there are now five CMHTs covering different parts of Northamptonshire. They cover the same geographical areas as our county's 'local area partnerships', which bring together health services, social care, council teams and
community groups to provide more joined-up support that's tailored to the needs of their communities.
The five areas cover Kettering and Corby, Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire, Northampton town centre, the wider Northampton urban area, and Daventry and South Northamptonshire. The staffing structure of each of the five CMHTs has been carefully planned to ensure they bring the right skills and experience for the populations they support.
Wayne Lawrence, Assistant Director for Mental Health Community Pathways at NHFT, said: "The new structure of our CMHTs is a great way for us to ensure our teams are focused on delivering the best care and support for our communities.
"Small enough to be designed around the needs of service users and large enough to maintain that consistency and quality of care, our teams will also now have more opportunities to work from local community sites as our partnerships with neighbourhoods and organisations develop.
"All this is part of our shared commitment to working with our health and care partners to support our populations and create healthier communities together."