Mental health services ‘failing’
HEALTH CHIEF SAYS IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH AS CAPACITY LAGS BEHIND DEMAND
MENTAL health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are “not good enough”, according to the chief executive of the health trust in charge of providing them.
Peter Miller, who heads up Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT), told councillors on Leicester City Council’s health scrutiny committee that the services on offer need to improve.
“Mental health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) are not as good as I would like them to be,” he said. “Waits are too long, we don’t have the capacity to respond to demand, too many are being treated out of the county.
“There are 1,500 children waiting for ongoing treatment in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and that is not acceptable. We’ve spent three or four years now trying to plug the gap and now we’re starting to see signs of improvement.”
Last November, inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited LPT and issued a rating of “requires improvement”.
LPT has since teamed up with Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, a top- performing trust, to take elements of their working model and try to implement them across the area. Mr Miller added: “This isn’t about small changes or building on what we have – it’s about transforming in a different way. It’s not about spending more money – it’s about using what we have in a better way.”
Health bosses will focus on developing and improving services for people in a crisis, prenatal and postnatal patients, people who present at A&E and physical health hospitals, children with eating disorders and patients needing children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Mr Miller said: “A year ago there were 20-25 patients a month being treated out of the county, currently there are 12, generally it’s been under ten so it is getting better.
“We’re using the same processes as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation and it is making a difference. I’m confident we can improve from where we are, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.
“We won’t be outstanding in the next year but this is a five-year programme, we’re about halfway through.”
Councillor Elly Cutkelvim said: “Thank you for your honesty, the service has fallen short in a few ways and it’s something we will look at.”
Ivan Browne, interim director of public health at Leicester City Council, added: “When people reach Peter’s service it has gone too far. It’s key that public health work closely with LPT in terms of developing services and one important area of focus is mental wellbeing.”