Tower Hamlets Adult Mental Health manages the acute mental health care services for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and its CCG. It covers a population of about 280,000 people.
Tower Hamlets Adult Mental Health manages the acute mental health care services for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and its CCG. It covers a population of about 280,000 people.
The acute mental health inpatient wards at Tower Hamlets meet the pathways standards in the following ways:
The team works collaboratively with other agencies to provide support and advice on employment, education, social care and third sector organisations, such as supported housing.
The service has been able to consistently achieve a significantly lower 85% bed occupancy target for the last 4 years (the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ target for high quality inpatient care). The inpatient service has seen a halving of violence on the ward in the last 3 years, with daily ‘safety huddles’ and rapid access to PICUs for short-term intensive care. The staff sickness on the unit is less than 2.5%, well below NHS norms.
This service provides a wide spectrum of interventions, including pharmacological, psychological, occupational, as well as arts, drama and music therapies, social care support and peer support. As a result, the readmission rate within the first 28 days of discharge is now well below 5% for the last 5 years, with decreasing lengths of stay of approximately 20 days.
The services actively seek input from the people using them, as well as their family and supporters, to improve the service design. The People Participation Team has been directly involved in service design over the last 5 years. They collect feedback using experience measures, but also hold focus groups and forums. This team aims to increase the involvement of people who use services and their carers by increasing engagement in co-design and co-production of services. From this, the Recovery College was developed, as well as work on reducing stigma.
The Family and Friends Project was also established 3 years ago. The project is aimed at providing suitable visiting rooms for children coming to visit acute inpatient wards. It provides various resources that are age appropriate and provides an area that is welcoming and destigmatising for families during visits. These facilities help to maintain family relationships and have shown improvement in people’s wellbeing.
