Lousia Ovington independent investigation report ... - NHS North East

CHAPTER 7 – PROVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
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The new PCT in Easington, together with key partners, introduced planning
mechanisms to ensure that service developments were properly identified and funded.
This was particularly relevant as the local area had been identified as suffering from
significant deprivation.
COMMENT
As an illustration of some of the difficulties faced by the Easington area, Trust
Manager 1, who was project manager in the PCT at Easington for mental health
and subsequently head of mental health and children’s services, told the panel that
when he took over in 2000 there were three providers of mental health services
in Easington, which was at the outward boundary of all three. He told the panel
“Easington was said to have the greatest prevalence of mental health problems
outside of inner city London” and that there was a “massive prevalence of mental
health problems, running alongside some of the poorest services in terms of quantity
and to some extent quality.” He added that there was “A complete lack of services
… things we take for granted today didn’t exist, no crisis services, no services beyond
nine to five Monday to Friday, massive vacancies in the consultant field, nurses, social
workers.”
He commented that no-one wanted to work in Easington, as it was perceived as a
difficult patch to work, the physical facilities being poor and the situation complicated
by the ‘ three way’ trust providers. Staff did not believe that things could change “It
was just a wasteland really for mental health services.”
From the time that the PCT was established in 2002, much attention was given to
delivering a high quality mental health service to the local community and this process
was informed through the publication of the National Service Framework for Mental
Health and its policy implementation guidance. As a result of this and the major new
funding which was made available by the PCT, a complete reappraisal was undertaken
of current services and the need for the introduction of a modern approach to mental
health care. It was also recognised that for this to succeed the planning and delivery
of new services would have to be undertaken in partnership with other agencies,
particularly the social services departments.
Policies and procedures
One outcome of the change process to have a direct effect on clinical care was the
need to introduce new guidance on how the teams should operate. Each new service
therefore would have its own operational policy describing what it offered, to whom,
where, when and by whom. This would include a benefits analysis and set out systems
which would be required to monitor effectiveness and efficiency.