Agenda item

Ivan McConnell (Executive Director of Commercial Development and Transformation, KMPT) was in attendance for this item.

(1)       Mr McConnell began by explaining that the paper was an update and appraisal to the paper presented in October and it was proposed that the Trust would return to the Committee in January with more detailed feedback. He noted that the new Chief Executive, Helen Greatorex, had set the Trust a target of reducing out-of-area beds to fifteen by October and zero by December; he reported that, as of 25 November, there were only five people in psychiatric intensive care out-of-area beds. He stated that there were no young or older people in out of area beds and this was a position that the Trust needed to sustain. He noted that the Trust currently had a bed occupancy rate of 97% which higher than the recommended rate of 85% set by the CQC and Royal College. He noted that bed occupancy was an issue that the Trust needed to work with its commissioners; the repatriation of patients from out-of-area beds had created significant quality improvements and financial savings.

(2)       Mr McConnell reported that that the Trust had been working with the Police & Crime Commissioner on Section 136 detention and there were now two funded street triage pilots in Medway and Thanet. He noted that the Trust was involved with an internationally acclaimed research project to support early intervention in psychosis and had received £2 million of funding to support this; the Trust was the only Trust in the country to be involved in this project. He explained that the Trust’s Board had received feedback that the therapeutic staffing model was helping patients to get out of hospital and support recover quickly.  He noted that he was leading a review of community mental health teams to reduce their high caseload to 35 cases; the Trust needed to work with partners to prevent the Trust being responsible for all aspects of mental health as it was only a designated secondary care provider.

(3)       Mr McConnell noted that improvement of perinatal mental health was a priority; there was currently only one consultant and three specialist nurses covering the county. The Trust had recently been successfully in being awarded £2 million of NHS England funding to support perinatal mental health including post-partum and post-natal depression. He reported that perinatal services were an attractive area of work for staff and the Trust was able to recruit staff to these posts.

(4)       Members made comments about services for young people and Section 136 detention. Mr McConnell stated that whilst services for children and young people were provided for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust provide intervention psychosis services for young people aged 14 and over and it was important that those young people were captured early to avoid deterioration later. 

(5)       In response to a specific question about Section 136 detention, he noted that Section 136 detentions were challenging for both the Police and Trust. He reported that Kent & Medway had the highest levels of detention in the country but one of the lowest conversation rates of detention to admission. He stated that the Trust needed to support and train the police officers to recognise mental distress; an example of this support was allowing police officers to shadow staff on an inpatient ward and a crisis team and take the learning back to their police teams. He noted that there was a single point of access where police officers were able to call a dedicated telephone number to speak to a nurse for advice and guidance which would be supported by the implementation of the street triage pilots. He highlighted that Kent Police had one of the only mental health custody liaison services which had been rated as outstanding. He noted that if the Police & Crime Bill became an Act, A&E would no longer be a designated place of safety which would put additional pressure on the Trust. He reported that Kent had a good relationship with the Police & Crime Commissioner who was committed to making a difference.

(6)       RESOLVED that the report on the Transformation of Mental Health Services be noted and KMPT be requested to update the Committee at the appropriate time.