Healthwatch East Sussex East Sussex Assembly Annual Conference 13th September 2016

Volunteer and Community Liaison Manager Elizabeth Mackie Volunteer and Community Liaison Manager elizabeth.mackie@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk 07794 097 719

Mental Health in East Sussex Views and perspectives from local Healthwatch - what people told Healthwatch East Sussex. How we can work in partnership to best support and improve the lives of people living with mental health problems in East Sussex?

What is Healthwatch? Created as part of the NHS Reforms ‘Consumer’ watchdog for Health & Social Care – championing patient user voice Independent ‘Corporate Body’ Statutory powers Additional functions – strengthening the consumer/user voice Healthwatch England Health & Well-being Board

Seven Key Functions… Gathering views and understanding the experiences of patients and the public Making peoples’ views known Promoting and supporting the involvement of people in the commissioning and provision of local care services and how they are scrutinised Recommending investigation or special review of services via Healthwatch England or directly to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Providing advice and information about access to services and support for making informed choices Making the views and experiences of people known to Healthwatch England and providing a steer to help it carry out its role as national champion NHS Complaints Advocacy

Mental Health in East Sussex Views and perspectives from local Healthwatch …what people told Healthwatch East Sussex

Accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHs) Our Activity Listening to our communities - From people and their carers, who use mental health services http://www.healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk/our-work/our-reports/ We Listened: report of findings from five mental health listening events around the county Dec 2013 – Feb 2014 Identified areas for further activity: Mental Healthline – which provides telephone support; and Accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHs) To further assist Healthwatch East Sussex understand what mental health services are delivered locally; Orientation visits were undertaken at a number of services.

Main Themes Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHs) – overwhelming view was that the service is very good but waiting times are an issue (August 2015) CAMHs needs to consider how it can improve waiting time. For most people 18 weeks is too long Mental Healthline needs to manage expectations of the level of support that can be provided for individuals via the telephone service Calls are time limited and are of variable quality Evidence from people receiving the service suggests that there are major gaps Samaritans and NHS 111 – Samaritans have time to listen and have a text service NHS 111 useful, put people in touch with out of hours GP service, and provide access to mental health services

Our feedback July 2016 Fewer individuals in crisis directly contacting HWES – systems appear to be responding, However… Some people in East Sussex are still experiencing difficulties accessing support when in crisis Individual’s in the community are wanting to assist their fellow citizens but experience challenges when trying to access professionals who able to assist (Multi agencies) Better access to information and education about mental health Concerns around older people with depression in the community and in care homes. (Social isolation)

How we can work in partnership to best support and improve the lives of people living with mental health problems in East Sussex?

Our Activity Continue to gather independent views and feedback from local people Continue to make those views known to achieve service improvements Encourage more people to share their feedback i.e. Red Bus Tour 2016 Continue to be involved in discussions: Mental Health Partnership Board Mental Health Action Group Pan Healthwatch across Sussex Collaboration meetings with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Bi-monthly liaison meetings with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Promote good practices (where services are working well for local people) through enter and view activity Healthwatch England – national trends Mental Health 5 year Forward View for Prevention, Treatment and Support

Moving forward Healthwatch East Sussex – ensuring we are involved in discussions going forward Support and encourage the focus on prevention Improving patient experience; and Using patient experience to influence service improvement

Strategic partners with whom local Healthwatch should work to achieve service improvements