New partnership sees trust and charities join forces

A partnership which will see Oxford Health NHS FT working side-by-side with five local charities to deliver mental health services has been launched to the media. The Oxfordshire Mental Health ... Read more

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Dr Rob Bale is interviewed by ITV about the partnership

A partnership which will see Oxford Health NHS FT working side-by-side with five local charities to deliver mental health services has been launched to the media.

The Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership sees the trust working with third sector organisations Restore, Response, Oxfordshire Mind, Elmore and ConnectionFS.

It means people using any of the services will find it easier to access the local knowledge and expertise of each organisation.

Adult clinical director Dr Rob Bale explained: “The intention of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership is to give a very different experience for service users and for their carers.

“It’s about wrapping services around the individual’s needs rather than  expecting the individual to meet the service’s needs.

“One of things we’ve been doing with the partnership organisations is that staff from those organisations have been embedded into our adult mental health teams.

“This means that people using those services have rapid access to those skills—things like housing, employment and identifying resources in the community to meet their needs.”

The partnership means that people will now only have to go to one organisation and, because assessments have been standardised, they’ll only have to be assessed once.

Other improvements include the introduction of a Recovery College, which is run by people with experience of mental illness alongside professionals.

The college offers free workshops and courses to help adults on their road to recovery, as well as courses for cares and mental health professionals.

Rob added: “This contract moves towards thinking about outcomes for the individual.

“So rather than looking at how many people we see each week or how quickly we discharge people from services, it’s about looking at the outcomes which are important to the individual and measuring those.”

 

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Published: 4 December 2015