Developing a Joint Mental Health Strategy for Elders
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200100014 |
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| Pages | 14-17 |
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| Author | Kathryn Hill |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Developing a Joint Mental Health Strategy for Elders
Kathryn Hill
Service Development Consultant
Institute for Applied Health and Social Policy
Introduction
Given the increasing interest in health and social care
provision for older people, as demonstrated by the
Better Government for Older People Programme, the
Royal Commission report on long term care (1999),
Forget Me Not (Audit Commission, 2000), the NHS
Plan (Department of Health, 2000), and the National
Service Framework for Older People, it was timely
for the Institute for Applied Health and Social Policy
(IAHSP) to be asked to support the development of
a Joint Mental Health Strategy for Elders in a central
London borough.
The project brought together a number of stake-
holders: clinicians and practitioners from a variety of
settings (mental health trust, community trust, acute
trust, primary care and social services), the voluntary
sector and users and carers. The aim of the project
was to develop a shared philosophy of care based on
promoting independence and from this to identify the
components of a spectrum of care that would meet the
wide range of needs of elders with mental ill health.
Of particular interest for the project is the
demographic profile of the borough with high levels
of deprivation, unemployment and poor housing. In
addition the borough has a rich ethnic diversity with a
large Bengali population and Afro-Caribbean, Chinese
and Jewish communities as well as a growing Somali
population. It was clear from the outset that the strategy
would need to be reflective and sensitive to this
diversity. In addition any service development coming
out of the strategy would need to ensure that it was
underpinned with an understanding of the differing
cultural perspectives about mental health as well as
understanding the relationship between an
individual’s culture and their mental ill health.
The Forget Me Not audit took place at the same
time the strategy was developed and for this reason
the strategy does not contain any quantitative data.
Consultants from IAHSP met with the district auditor
to discuss the two projects and there was agreement
that the two pieces of work should complement
each other. Within the borough some work had been
undertaken between the trust and social services
concerning the development of an integrated CMHT
for older people. This work continued during the
project and IAHSP gave support to this piece of work
as well. During the project all mental health services
in the borough transferred to a specialist mental health
trust formed from a combined community and mental
health trust. A key theme running through the project
was the need to maintain the good links between the
mental health services for the elderly and the general
elderly services.
Methods
Throughout the duration of the project the Institute
worked in partnership with a local steering group
with representatives from the mental health trust, the
community trust, social services and the voluntary
sector. There were no representatives from primary
care despite being invited. The role of the steering
group was to oversee the general direction of the
project and to ensure local ownership. Stakeholder
views were collected in a variety of ways:
■individual interviews with a number of key
personnel
■a number of multi stakeholder ‘open space’ events
■focus group-style events with a special interest
focus – primary care, user and carer groups and
ethnic minority groups.
The process established the views of stakeholders
concerning the strengths and weaknesses of current
services, ideas for service development and
opportunities and obstacles to change.
The ‘open space’ event was multi-agency and
multi-professional and a number of questions were
put to the participants. What could be celebrated
14 The Mental Health Review Volume 6 Issue 2 June 2001 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2001
Case Study
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