James Nilsen-Clarke’s message for the public
So, what we’ve done so far is have discussions with our local communities to identify what service should look like and one of the things that has been agreed upon is, that services should be working collaboratively together. So working across primary care, mental health and the third sector and voluntary services so that we can provide a service in communities to those living and working in those communities rather than having services centralised.
So the changes that we’re proposing are made are that we work out of primary care services, we don’t have centralised systems but we have systems that are working locally to those communities that we serve. So for example, if we’re going to be providing a service within primary care, then we’ll be working in primary care. We’ll bring our services to that arena. This ensures when somebody goes to primary care with a mental health condition, they see a mental health specialist.
So, the next steps are for us to start collaboratively working with our partnership organisations. So in Haverhill for example, we’ve created an enhanced primary care team to ensure that when you go to see a GP and you have concerns regarding your mental health, you’ll see a mental health professional. They’ll have a wealth of contacts and resources available so you don’t need to retell your story and so that your given the correct support in a timely fashion which is relevant to your needs at that moment.
We’ve already started some aspects of this new service, so between now and next summer we hope to continually build upon the resources that we’ve already created and the partnerships we’ve already started to mature.
You can find more information on the #averydifferentconversation community page.
