The Southampton EIP service is one of the four EIP services provided by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. The service covers the city of Southampton and southern parishes and also provides support for a large university population.
Working towards quality statement 1, the Southampton EIP service places a strong emphasis on improving referrals. All urgent cases are co-worked with the crisis team and there is a 10-day waiting time for routine assessment through a single point of entry. Support is also offered throughout the evening and weekends.
The service offers a range of additional services tailored to both the service user and their carer. The Southampton EIP service is also continuing to work to improve its interface with CAMHS. Link workers regularly liaise with CAMHS to promote communication and encourage future referrals through promoting awareness of the psychosis pathway.
Additional support is also offered in the form of youth groups, which promote self-esteem, confidence and communication and a carer support worker, who offers behavioural family therapy (quality statement 3). Extended from this, in order to ensure that the needs of carers are met (quality statement 8), healios provide assistance and clinical guidance, including web-based carer support and family interventions. This also includes an app to assist in the early detection of relapse.
In order to promote employment (quality statement 5) vocational work and basic English and maths classes are run in conjunction with City Limits and Southampton City College. Art and restoration projects and football training are also supported by the city council and Southampton FC respectively. Finally, as part of making services more accessible, future plans include increasing psychoeducation at schools and universities.