Partners pledge to work together to improve support for those in mental health crisis

SENIOR leaders from across the county today put pen to paper and signed a local declaration setting out how they will work together to support people experiencing mental health crisis.

Improved information sharing and partnership working, prevention and early intervention were just some of the commitments made in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat Declaration.

Each agency also agreed to work to together to ensure that no matter what agency a person approaches they are “kept safe and helped to find the support they need”.

The document was signed at the county’s second Mental Health Roundtable jointly hosted by Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright and Maureen Donnelly, Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Signatories to the Concordat

Signatories included Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust, East of England Ambulance Service, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, BeNCH Community Rehabilitation Company, British Transport Police, MIND Cambridgeshire and MIND Fenland and Peterborough. It has been supported by HealthWatch Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust and the NHS Local Area Team.

Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright, said: “The signing of the local declaration is testament to the importance all agencies place on ensuring people in mental health crisis get the help and support they need. Mental health should be valued equally with physical health, I am particularly supportive of the move towards greater preventative work. I have personally invested in mental health support for victims of crime through my local commissioning of victims services. Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs) – known as Mental Health Pathfinder Case Workers – are supporting victims of crime identified as having possible mental health problems to receive appropriate treatment and care.”

Maureen Donnelly, Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “We are pleased to have been one of the first CCGs in the country to have signed the Concordat. We are already working to strengthen the links between the various services that we commission in order to improve the help provided promptly to local people experiencing a crisis.”

Local MIND Chief Executives Sarah Hughes (Cambridgeshire) and Emily Gray (Fenland and Peterborough), said they were both “delighted” to support the local declaration.  “This ground-breaking work is set to change the face of our emergency response and ultimately ensure people get the help when they need it most. Together the services will make a difference,” they said.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Crisis Declaration will be the eighth to be loaded onto the National Concordat Website http://www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk

The next steps is for the Delivery Group to formulate a detailed shared plan of action to improve the care and support of people in mental health crisis in the county.