Mental Health Services for Older People ‐ Towards an Integrated Approach
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200100016 |
| Pages | 22-24 |
| Author | Tony Middleton |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Services for Older People –
Towards an Integrated Approach
Tony Middleton
Team Manager
CMHT – Older People, Thurrock
Focus on…
Introduction
This article describes how Thurrock Council Social
Services Department and South Essex Mental Health
and Community Care NHS Trust launched a joint
initiative to develop an integrated service strategy and
implementation plan for older people’s mental health
services in Thurrock. It is not intended to represent
an ideal model but it describes a process which was
found to be productive and therefore may have a value
to other health and social care organisations in the
development of their services.
The main principles of this approach are:
■service user and carer involvement
■the active participation of mental health
professionals working directly with service users
and carers
■representatives from all key agencies involved
in the planning process.
Creating an appropriate forum was essential in making
a practical reality of these principles. It was with this
in mind that a plan was established to involve all the
stakeholders in the process of formulating an older
persons’ mental health strategy and implementation
plan by forming a project group. The purpose of the
group was to identify the mental health needs of older
people in Thurrock and to put forward proposals for
the development of services to meet those identified
needs.
Setting up the project group
At the outset it was intended that the group would
harness grass-roots knowledge of the need for mental
health services of older people living in the local
community.
The contribution of carers in this process would
be vital and therefore a carer member of the local
Alzheimer’s support group was invited to join the
project group. An aspect of the carer’s role would be
to bring to the group their own personal experience of
caring and their experiences, positive or negative, of
services received by themselves and the cared-for
person. As a member of the Alzheimer’s support group
there would also be the opportunity to seek the views
of other carers and service users of their needs and to
feed this information back to the project group. It was
envisaged that as service plans were developed there
would also be the opportunity to consult with the
support group on the content and direction of the
plans for a service strategy.
Thurrock Council and South Essex Mental Health
& Community Care NHS Trust were committed to
ensuring that professionals working in the field of
mental health care were also involved in identifying
the service development needs of the local community
in order to take full advantage of their knowledge and
experience of local need and gaps in services. It was
also anticipated that participating in the project would
maintain their commitment and involvement as
potential new services were developed and introduced.
The professionals included representatives of
community mental health nurses, occupational
therapists, psychologists, social workers and consultant
psychiatrists.
In order to seek the views and involvement of
primary care services in the development of the
service strategy a local GP member of the PCG was
invited to be part of the project group. As a member
of the Thurrock PCG the GP was able to consult with
his primary care colleagues and seek their views on
how best to develop mental health services for older
people.
Voluntary sector organisations specifically
concerned with older people’s mental health care
22 The Mental Health Review Volume 6 Issue 2 June 2001 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2001
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