Transforming Community Mental Health Together
This is an exciting time for mental health services. We will be redesigning community mental health care to increase accessibility, where and when people need it. We want to offer more choice and more control over the care you receive, and to help you stay well and active in your community, wherever you live, whatever your background.
Greater Manchester Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategic Vision
On Friday 1st July, GMMH brought together leaders from Greater Manchester H&SC Partnership, the Mental Health Innovation Unit, the Independent Mental Health Network, and Pennine Care, GM Experts by Experience and Peer Support Workforce, to host an event at the Curve to consolidate lived experience engagement and co-production in the GM Community Transformation programme so far.
The day was also a chance to reflect on areas for development as we move forward with this agenda. The day was a huge success and has resulted in a shared action plan to widen participation especially for young people, older adults and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. 
What is community mental health transformation?
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) is working with people who use our services, carers, colleagues, and support organisations to transform community mental health services across Greater Manchester as part of the national community mental health services transformation.
Living Well Teams, are multiagency and made up of a range of partners providing different services that will bridge the gap between primary (GP and community-based) services and secondary (hospital-based and specialist) services.
Living Well creates new ways of supporting the mental health of people in local communities. It offers holistic support for anyone struggling with their mental health. The team listen and connect them with the support they need within the community this could involve things like help with finance, housing, employment, mental illness or loneliness. These are the kind of wider health and social care needs that service users and carers tell us they would like support with via our experience surveys and engagement activities.
Codesign, coproduction and codelivery with people with lived experience and their carers are key features of theprogramme. For example, people with lived experience of eating disorders, rehab services and personality difficulties have been involved in the development of the new pathways described above. We have also employed Peer Support Workers within Living Well services and there are plans to roll these posts out wider as the programme develops.
What will it achieve?
These new teams will work with service users and carers to ensure that people across Greater Manchester have access to mental health and wellbeing care in their local area at the right time and right place. The new teams will deliver personalised care, offering a wide range of support.
The partnership is designed to improve our service users’ and carers’ experiences of mental health care and access, by developing a new integrated community mental health model delivered in local communities.
Dedicated areas of focus also see an expansion of Adult Eating Disorders services, the development of a new Community Rehabilitation Team and the development of a pathway for people with personality disorder.
Access to psychological therapies in community mental health teams will also be strengthend. Again, a need which is regularly fed back to us from service users and carers.
Why is this being carried out now?
The community mental health transformation is being carried out in line with the NHS Long Term Plan (2019). One of its main priorities is to offer equal access to mental health services across Greater Manchester.
How will current service users and carers of GMMH be affected by these changes?
There will be no immediate changes to the care you are receiving. If anything is to change – for example, as the new Living Well Teams are developed – we will let you know in plenty of time.
GMMH is dedicated to working with you to ensure we are making a positive difference for you, as well as finding opportunities through the local Living Well Collaboratives and our service user and carer engagement scheme to work with you to shape services throughout this journey. If you are interested in getting involved please contact serviceusersandcarers@gmmh.nhs.uk
How will I be kept updated?
GMMH will keep you informed on the programme’s progress and we will keep you updated through our regular correspondence with you such as letters, emails, and conversations as well as through podcasts in some areas. We will keep the dedicated webpage updated and you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram where we will share the latest information.
How can I give feedback?
We are dedicated to working with you to keep you updated, engaged, and informed throughout the process. We will send you this briefing regularly and keep the dedicated website page updated.
You can also ask any questions or send us any comments or suggestions here: CTP@gmmh.nhs.uk
What is happening in my area?
Bolton
Bolton is a national accelerator site and the Living Well team will be operating in Farnworth and Kearsley. It will roll out to other areas of Bolton over the next three years. The team are working in partnership with Family Action BAND who will host several key roles in the team, as well as other local organisations, to deliver the service.
Want to know more about our vision for future? Please see our Bolton Outcomes document
For the latest news, please see our recent newsletters:
Manchester
Manchester is just beginning its journey to establish the Living Well model and we are currently in the design phase. We are working with people with Lived Experience and local VCSE organisations to design a service that will bridge the gap between primary and secondary care.
This exciting collaborative work will determine what the model will look like and we will ensure it includes easy access to care and support, offers person-centred care and is rooted in the local community. Our hope is that it will help people to ‘get well’ and, crucially stay well. We are hoping the first prototypes of this service will be launched in early 2023.
We also have our Mental Health Practitioners placed within local Primary Care Networks. They are based in GP practices across Manchester to increase access to mental health support. Some networks will also include Trainee Associate Psychological Practitioners who will be able to offer brief psychological interventions.
Please keep checking this page for latest information and opportunities to get involved.
Trafford
Trafford has established a local collaborative and Living Well Trafford has now been launched. Read about the launch of Living Well Trafford here.
Trafford Living Well is putting on four workshops throughout Trafford, these will take place monthly and are open to the public in Trafford, aimed at providing educational sessions and skills for various mental health topics. These workshops aim to improve accessibility to mental health support and skills development for community members, regardless of whether they are under a mental health service.
Read more about the Mental Health Workshop Programme here.
Salford
Living Well Salford is one of four national pilot sites and is part of the Living Well UK programme. Living Well service is offered in Broughton and Ordsall neigbourhoods. Local collaborative discussions are taking place to phase the roll out across the city over the next year.
Lived experience support is a key feature of the service and is at the heart of the model. Living Well Salford’s Peer Support Workers are experts by experience and are able to connect with people from a place of understanding and walk alongside them promoting hope, inclusion and recovery. To keep up to date with everything going on at Living Well Salford, follow them on Twitter at @LWinSalford.
Wigan and Leigh
Primary Care Network Mental Health Teams have been established in GP surgeries across the Borough. These teams include a Mental Health Practitioner, Senior Assistant Psychologist and Mental Health Link Workers.
Stories are being collected from people with lived experience, their carers/family members and professionals who work in mental health services to understand the needs of the local population and aid in the Living Well design.
The Borough has established a local design group (collaborative) and has started its journey to design and implement the Living Well service in partnership with the Wigan & Leigh system.
Hindley has been agreed as the prototyping area for implementation of the Living Well service and recruitment to the Living Well prototyping team will commence in the coming months. The aim will be to start prototyping with a small cohort of people around January 2023.
The Living Well service will aim to be accessible to people aged 18 and over and will offer a person centred trauma informed approach to care.
A Community Transformation VCSE Lead has been appointed and is working in partnership with GMMH and other partners to collaboratively design the Living Well model for the Borough.
South Manchester Community Collaborative Meeting
The collaborative is organised by the South Manchester Living Well team - with the knowledge that local communities are best placed to lead the way in identifying solutions to local problems. The collaborative acts as a forum to do this.
It's for anyone who lives, works, accesses support or is just interested in mental health in the south of the city. We come together to talk about solutions, explore support options and discuss issues that people are experiencing. And jointly find the way to solve them.
Below are the dates for the 2024 south collaboratives. It'll be the fourth Tuesday of every month. They will all be held at Benchill Community Centre. You do not need an invite - these are public meetings.
But i do maintain a mailing list - so if you would like to be added please say.
Most importantly there is free tea, coffee and biscuits. And I try to remember to bring fruit too.
Venue: Benchill Community Centre
Contact details for venue:
Benchill Rd
Manchester
M22 8EJ
Phone:0161 946 9520
It's a ten-minute walk from Benchill and Martinscroft tram stops. And on the 103 bus route is right outside.
If you are struggling with transport there is also the excellent Wythenshawe Good Neighbours Community Taxi service - Our Volunteer Drivers Scheme is now launched! - Wythenshawe Good Neighbours
|
Day |
Time |
Date |
|---|---|---|
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
23/01/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
27/02/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
26/03/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
23/04/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
28/05/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
25/06/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
23/07/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
27/08/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
24/09/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
22/10/2024 |
|
Tuesday |
10.30am-12pm |
26/11/2024 |
Physical Healthcare and Serious Mental Illness
It is incredibly important that we care for the physical health of our service users who are living with serious mental illness, to ensure their risk of developing other conditions is reduced. Having a mental health condition should not affect people accessing other elements of healthcare.
Our aim is for 60% of people living with a serious mental illness to receive an annual physical health check. This can be split into 50% of people receiving their health check within GP practices and 10% within mental health services.
To achieve this, we must design and deliver innovative approaches which span primary and secondary care.
Community mental health teams (CMHTs), with the support of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations will work together to complete and support these health checks. They will also support brief interventions such as smoking cessation, substance misuse services, diet, exercise/moving and emotional wellbeing.
Other areas of progress include working in partnership with Manchester Mind on Improving Physical Health Community Engagement Teams who will work with people to help them actively engage in their healthcare with supportive professionals. They will work with people to access annual health checks, vaccinations and wider health and lifestyle support.
CMHTs also carry out physical health assessments for people on atypical antipsychotic medication using a Physical Health and Intervention Tool (PHIT).
In practical terms this will include rolling out ‘Point of Care’ testing which will offer ‘one-stop’ physical health care checks including blood testing and screening.
This is ambitious work and not without its challenges. However, we are determined to ensure people living with serious mental illness have equal access to physical healthcare. Services across Greater Manchester continue to work incredibly hard to embed these important aspects of physical healthcare into the lives of those living with serious mental illness to improve their outcomes. Check back here for further updates.
Community Transformation News
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) is joining forces with a network of local voluntary and community organisations, and people with lived experience of mental health problems...
Living Well Salford, one of only four original pilot sites in the UK, saw 83% of service users reach one or more of their goals...
A Salford programme has been recognised for its outstanding contribution to healthcare....
"We have developed a real understanding of the needs of Salford people by truly listening to them and have designed the service to specifically meet their requirements."...
The Salford-based community mental health service offers holistic support for people struggling with their mental health....
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