Serious and complex needs

Serious mental illness

Increasingly, we are striving to focus on those things that are best done by our organisation, or can only be done by us. Where some forms of care and support can be provided more effectively by others, for example our colleagues in the VCSE sector, then we will make arrangements for this to happen.

At the moment, we know that we are not devoting sufficient resources to supporting people with serious mental Illness - this includes people with psychotic, bi-polar and severe depressive conditions.

There is growing recognition of the risks associated with not providing robust and sustained community-based treatment for people with serious mental illness, in a way that is personally tailored to their needs and helps prevent relapse, repeating cycles of illness or the risk of a diminishing ability to function.

We also know that many people in the UK receive overly restrictive and intensive health interventions, which are unnecessary and often associated with poorer long-term outcomes. We plan to offer quicker access and an increasing range of psychosocial and alternative forms of support for people. This support will be tailored to their individual needs, taking account of a host of social factors that may contribute to their overall health and wellbeing. In some ways this is similar to the concept of social prescribing.

Complex Emotional Needs

Both nationally and locally there is increasing demand to support people with Complex Emotional needs.

Our aim is to build a pathway for people who have these needs, with structured offers, high intensity programmes and quick or immediate access to evidence-based, psychosocial support and psychological therapies. Collaboration with our partners in many areas, including the VCSE sector, primary care, local authorities and hospital emergency departments, will be vital to the success of this ambition.

Tailoring support to each person's unique circumstances is particularly important in this area of our work. We know that, for many people with these needs, clinical interventions and stays in hospital are not always helpful in terms of supporting a person's wellbeing and long-term recovery. Where they are essential, hospital admissions should be brief, have clearly defined goals and be valuable. We aim to use experience and research evidence to enable us to meet the needs of this group of people more effectively, particularly in treating thoughts of self-harm and addressing psychosocial difficulties.