Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust has been successful in obtaining funding from NHS England/Improvement to strengthen the mental health crisis pathway by establishing a Crisis Plus Initiative. The purpose of the funding will be to increase the range of local alternatives to A&E, mental health inpatient care and mental health crisis teams by providing Collaborative Intensive Outreach Team, Social Intervention Collective and Crisis House provision.
Transformation funding has been allocated for work to take place on alternative crisis provision over the next three financial years. Through investment in voluntary and community sector organisations (VCSE), the aim is to access hard-to-reach communities and to meet the needs of our diverse population to provide mental health support at times of crisis. Investment in local peer support workers will mean people can also be supported by those who have been through the same experience and come out of the other side.
The transformation work is to develop alternatives which will increase the capacity and range of options for people when they feel in mental health crisis. Across Coventry and Warwickshire, a Crisis Plus Initiative will be developed which will include the implementation of:
- Collaborative Intensive Outreach Team which will establish a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) to work with people who frequently need to use mental health crisis services. This team will develop prevention and care treatment plans with individuals to reduce the time they need to spend in hospital, and also help them to identify their strengths to reach their own life goals.
- Social Intervention Collective which will offer support to people whose mental health crises come about as a result of a variety of social issues.
- Crisis House provision which will offer short-term overnight accommodation for people who are in crisis. The facility will offer intensive support to help manage a mental health crisis over a short period of time, usually as an alternative to hospital admission.
For the people of Coventry and Warwickshire, the Crisis Plus Initiative will mean increased access to local support and less dependency on mental health inpatient admission or Crisis services. For people who have complex care needs, crisis planning will be strengthened by producing support plans with the individual by a multi-disciplinary team working across urgent mental health care services, Social Care, Local Authority services and the voluntary and community sector (VCSE) and the individual. The individuals who need our support and care will find a more person-based approach to their mental health challenges.
For more information about the Crisis Plus Initiative, please contact mentalhealth.communications@covwarkpt.nhs.uk.
