As proposals are unveiled to create an overriding health body specifically for community and mental health services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, reassurances have been given the Island will not be left behind.
An independent review was conducted earlier this year of the community and mental health services across the area for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB), which concluded there were ‘huge inconsistencies’ in the way health pathways were being delivered, according to the Island’s mental health chief.
Speaking at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust Board yesterday (Thursday), Dr Lesley Stevens, the trust’s director of community, mental health and learning disabilities, said:
“There is inconsistency in the way things are funded, real challenges across the system around workforce and inconsistency on clinical pathways.”
The review has led to the ICB making five key recommendations.
Among those is the proposal for a new trust to be created across the region for specifically for those services, with local divisions focusing on their communities.
Dr Stevens said:
“Services will be delivered locally and will always be delivered locally. That ability for us to support each other and the consistency of the [health] model is important.”
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Stevens welcomed the news and said the trust had made good progress improving the services it provides to the Island over the last few years, thanks to the hard work and commitment of staff.
A lot of the improvement, she said, was down to the positive way the trust has worked with its partners Solent NHS Trust, service users and the wider community.
A clinical strategy, focusing on prevention, early intervention and patient-centred care, has also been proposed.
Dr Stevens said work is ongoing on the strategy and progressing well with nine priority areas identified — one being the child and adolescent mental health pathway which is the trust’s most complex pathway, and has seen very high demand post Covid-19.
Other recommendations included a review of community physical beds to ensure the highest levels of patient safety; a systemwide strategy for place and local leadership; and establishing a more strategic approach to funding community and mental health services to address inequalities.
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