Agenda item

Mental Health and Learning Disability services in York, Selby, Tadcaster and Easingwold have been provided by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) since February 2012. This report sets out key areas of service development since that date; and areas for focus on further improvement over coming months.

Members considered an annual report from the Chief Executive of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Discussion of this item and Agenda Item 6 (Minute Item 40 refers) took place at the same time. Details of the discussion of the two items can be found below.

The Chief Executive introduced his report and underlined that Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust had been running mental health and learning disability services in York for twenty months. He outlined four aims that they had. These were:

·        That services needed to be of a higher quality with a reduction in the variation of quality in some services.

·        That there needed to be simpler and easier to access services, and that duplication of the same service should be avoided.

·        That services should be more efficient and operate within the resources available.

·        That as much progress as possible should be made towards establishing a Section 136 Place of Safety in York.

He stated that due to reduced budgets, changes needed to be made but that there was also the need to;

·        Rebalance institutional care with community care

·        For more care to be brought to people in their own homes.

·        To address the under-resourced Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.

·        Ensure that psychological services in York connected with those in Leeds (for example Personality Disorders)

·        To address accommodation issues, not just at Bootham Park Hospital but also at the adult and young people inpatient service at Limetrees.

He added that he was happy to take comments from the public speakers back to his colleagues and admitted that he would be happy to extend the timescale for public consultation on St Andrew’s Counselling and Psychotherapy services.

Some Members felt that the proposals for changes to mental health services in York, were particularly concerning given that there was a reported underspend in Mental Health services in the area. 

In response, Members were informed that there was a £2.8 million underspend in the services but that this money would not be immediately accessible to Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, but would be released in phases over the next three years. The main challenge would be how the money would be phased into continuing to provide the services.

Regarding figures relating to public consultation over the plans, the Committee were told that this information could be provided to them. In addition, further public consultation was planned in November. It was hoped that a ‘focused group’ of service users would help steer improvements forward, along with a detailed questionnaire about service users’ experiences. This questionnaire would be repeated periodically.

Further questions from Members to the Chief Executive included;

·        With Integrated Bed Management-would it be likely that York patients be accommodated elsewhere, out of the area?

·        Did evidence exist to support computerised cognitive telephone services for IAPT users?

Leeds and Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust recognised that although a few patients were accommodated outside of York, that this was not ideal. There was limited bed space at Bootham Park Hospital, and it was hoped that a Bed Manager would improve the situation by making sure that people were not delayed, however there was still a lack of capacity. Members were informed if there was a need to increase capacity then LYPFT would increase it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

In relation to computerised cognitive telephone services for IAPT users, Members were told that although it would not work for everyone evidence had shown that intervention was taking place online through Facetime. The Chief Executive added that he felt that technology such as wi-fi connections needed greater integration into care packages as the NHS needed to think about the broad nature and type of support that they could provide.

Regarding the evidence of successful operation of two day Therapeutic Communities, Members were informed that the Personality Disorder Network in Leeds was evidence based and it was felt that York would be benefit in integrating services with Leeds.

Further discussion took place regarding the extension of public consultation over the proposed changes to mental health services in York. The Chief Executive admitted that he was reluctant to give a timeframe for the consultation, as proposals had already caused great anxiety to service users.

Members questioned whether the consultation would only be extended time wise or if it would also be on the method on which it was done. Others requested that the period be extended for another month and it be presented to Healthwatch York. The Chief Executive confirmed that he would be happy to consider Healthwatch’s views on the proposals.

Resolved:  (i)      That the report be noted.

                   (ii)      That the consultation period over proposed                                changes to psychological therapies services in                      York be extended by another month.

                   (iii)     That Leeds and York Partnership NHS                                                  Foundation Trust present and take into                                                 consideration the views of Healthwatch York                                   in regards to the next steps in future                                                 changes of services in the city.

Reason:              In order to keep the Committee appraised of                               proposed changes to mental health services in                         the city.