Health Management and Policy Alert

Exploring mental health inpatient capacity

Royal College of Psychiatrists -
This report says that hundreds more NHS mental health beds are needed in England to help end the practice, known as out-of-area placements (OAPs), of sending severely ill patients far from home for treatment. The report explores the pressures on inpatient mental health services across Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships in England, drawing on a range of datasets, published research and interviews with staff working on mental health services.

• Report
• Royal College of Psychiatrists - press release

The detention of young people with learning disabilities and/or autism

Joint Committee on Human Rights - 

This report condemns the “horrific reality” of conditions and treatment under which many young people with learning disabilities and autism are detained in mental health hospitals, “inflicting terrible suffering on those detained and causing anguish to their distraught families”. It calls for an overhaul of inspections and changes to Mental Health Act to protect those detained and the establishment of a Number 10 unit with Cabinet level leadership to urgently drive forward reform.

• Report
• More detail

Universal approaches to improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing: short descriptions of interventions identified from the synthesis of systematic reviews

Public Health England -
This report, and associated documents, summarises the evidence for the effectiveness of universal approaches to improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. The documents are intended for strategic and operational leads, working on children and young people’s mental health.

• Report
• Public Health England - publications

Delivering the NHS long-term plan's ambition of ageing well: old age psychiatry as a vital resource

Royal College of Psychiatrists - 

This guidance is to help local areas plan and deliver specialist services, led by old age psychiatrists, to meet the needs of older people. It brings together views from older people, service users, carers and a wide range of health and social care professionals.

• Guidance
• Press release

A healthy foundation for the future: the final report of the young people’s future health inquiry

The Health Foundation -
This report summarises the work of a two-year inquiry into young people’s future health. It urges the government to overhaul policies across housing, transport and education and adopt a whole government approach to secure the future health of today’s young people. The recommendations for action include calls for a consistent approach to discounted and free public transport for students across the UK and a review of the impact the current testing regime in schools has on mental health.

• Report
• The Health Foundation - press release

Improving the medical discharge process

Help for Heroes - 

This policy paper states that there are currently major inconsistencies and gaps in Ministry of Defence support for those being medically discharged. The government should commission an independent review and audit of the medical discharge process, to ensure those forced to leave the military as a result of their injuries or illnesses are provided with the best possible opportunity to transition well into civilian life.

• Policy paper
• Press release

Life after loss: an economic evaluation of specialist counselling after baby loss

Centre for Mental Health -
This report is an economic evaluation of the baby loss charity Petals, which provides counselling to women who have experienced the death of a baby and their partners. The evaluation calculates that national provision of counselling to 4,822 mothers would cost £3.17m per annum, which would create a national safety-net of support to help parents at this immensely difficult time. No such service currently operates across England and Wales. The report highlights that specialist baby loss counselling is inexpensive, effective and reduces government expenditure.

• Report
• Centre for Mental Health - press release

The community mental health framework for adults and older adults

NHS England - 

This framework describes how the NHS long term plan’s vision for a place-based community mental health model can be realised, and how community services should modernise to offer whole-person, whole-population health approaches, aligned with the new primary care networks.

• Framework
• More detail

A new approach to complex needs: Primary Care Psychological Medicine - first year evaluation

Centre for Mental Health -
The Primary Care Psychological Medicine service offers psychological interventions to people who have high levels of unexplained or persistent physical symptoms of illness. This report finds that the service has reduced the use of GP, outpatient and emergency department services in one year by more than its own staff costs. The report concludes that Primary Care Networks could benefit from setting up similar services in local areas across the country so that fewer people miss out on the support they need close to home.

• Report
• Centre for Mental Health - news

Policy briefing: social care funding and mental health

Centre for Mental Health -
This briefing explores what a fair and sustainable funding settlement for social care needs to look like in order to deliver parity of esteem for mental health and sufficient funding to support people of working age as well as those in later life. It reviews the current funding and provision of mental health social work for people of working age in England. It finds that mental health social work has a vital role in helping people to live independently and to secure their rights and dignity.

• Briefing
• Centre for Mental Health - publications