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Suicide Prevention

ACTion
Help is at hand
Suicide strategy
Suicide summary

Keep it Safe

Poster
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Suicide Prevention Strategy (Word 93kb)
Dual Diagnosis Strategy (PDF 725kb)
Commissioning Strategy 2008-2012

The Care Services Improvement Partnership / Department of Health (CSIP) tendered developmental support time to projects to pilot techniques designed to manage local provider markets, with an end goal of ensuring the best possible quality of services.

The tender was won by East Lancashire PCT and Lancashire Social Services and a partnership approach was developed with Lancashire Care Trust and CSIP.

The primary aim of the project was to develop a strategy for commissioning and managing accommodation based services based in East Lancashire upon user need and quality of services provided. A Steering Group of key people oversaw the project.

Click here to download the strategy (Word format, 750kb)

The Primary Care Mental Health Worker is based at your GP practice and offers non-judgmental advice and support on a wide range of depression and anxiety issues. Areas where support can be given include:

• Increasing your motivation
• Relaxation techniques
• Problem solving
• Reassurance and advice on your prescribed medication and their side effects
• Stress management
• Change your negative or anxious ways of thinking
• Sleep problems
• Signposting to other agencies if required

If you are interested in further support you will be referred to the Primary Care Mental Health Worker. It is entirely your choice and you will not be made to see the worker.

If you are willing, the sessions can be done either face to face or over the telephone.

Your initial session (approx.1 hour) will allow you to discuss your current issues and you will work together with the worker to agree on the best plan of action which you are both comfortable with in order to cope better with your problems both now and in the future. You will be introduced to facilitated self help where the worker will help you to help yourself.

The team can be contacted via:

Suite 212 Bizspace, Lomeshaye, Nelson, BB9 7DR, Tel: 01282 619378.

Access to the service is via referral from your GP

NB: Over half of the practices in East Lancashire currently have access to this service and a number of workers are currently in training to cover the remaining practices, these members of staff will be ready to start receiving referrals in September 2008.

Community Development for Minority Ethnic Communities in the field of Mental Health support and services.

The East Lancashire PCT has appointed a team of Mental Health Development Officers (MHDO). The delivery of community development work for Black and Minority Communities is a key government target. The MHDO service comprises of a team leader and four Officers for the East Lancashire PCT.

The purpose of the MHDO service is to:

"Improve access to mainstream services for people of all ages from Black and Minority Ethnic communities in East Lancashire PCT’s mental health services"

This will involve strategic liaison, work with commissioners and providers,
as well as working at a practitioner level with local Primary Mental Health Services and other agencies.

The service ethos and principles of the MHDO service is supported by the Department of Health Guidance:

• Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care. An Action plan for reform inside and outside services and The Governments Response to the independent inquiry into the death of David Bennett. Department of Health. January 2005
  
• Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide Community Development Workers for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Interim Guidance December 2004

The MHDOs have four key roles as identified by the above guidance:

• Acting as a Change Agent.
• Service Development.
• Capacity Building in Communities.
• Access Facilitator.

The MHDO is a new service

• It is very much about looking at how we can work differently to improve the support and services to the service users and the wider communities.
  
• The MHDOs are not interpreters although all of the MHDO have bilingual skills.
  
• The MHDO service can not include clinical or one to one work with individuals as their focus is on working with communities and services.
  
• MHDOs can not offer therapeutic interventions instead they will co-work with other professionals

Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are NHS organisations which have been set up throughout the country to provide, plan and fund health services in local settings. PCTs are unique, in that healthcare professionals such as GPs and Nurses contribute significantly to the development of services in the area.

East Lancashire PCT is a large local NHS organisation. It commissions (purchases) services as well as provides health services. The organisational leadership is provided by three groups of leaders. The Board of the PCT is accountable, via the Strategic Health Authority for the North West, to the Secretary of State of Health. The Board meets monthly and reviews the strategic direction of the PCT.

More information about the Board and the role of Executive and Non-Executive Directors is found elsewhere on these pages. However the day to day operational leadership is provided by the Executive Directors. Clinical leadership and advice is provided to the Board and the Executive Directors via the Professional Executive Committee (PEC).

The commissioning cycle refers to the process whereby services are planned and purchased according to identified local need. This will lead to a contract with the most suitable provider. The contract is then monitored to ensure compliance against agreed parameters and revised to ensure future plans and contracts are robust in the light of emerging demand.

The commissioning Team can be contacted on 01282 648036

Local involvement Networks (LiNKS) are independent of the local authorities and health services. These will replace Patient and Public Involvement forums which will cease to operate from 31st March 2008. LiNks will be operational from the 1st April 2008.

Local Involvement Networks will give local people a say in how health and social care services are managed; how they should be provided in the future; and how they are monitored and reviewed.

Local Involvement Networks will have the power to :

• Enter specific health or social care premises to review how care is provided, and talk to people using the service about their experiences
  
• Ask for information from the health service and local authorities and get a response within a specific time
  
• Make recommendations about health and social care and get a response within a specific time
  
• Refer issues to the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which is committee that has the power to review and refer any decisions made by the Council or NHS that relate to the health and social care needs of the people of Lancashire

More information on LiNKS can be found at the Lancashire County Council website.