A drive to speed up and improve care for people suffering a mental health crisis across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has been highly commended at a prestigious national awards ceremony.
Hampshire and the IOW’s NHS Mental Health Crisis Care and S12 Solutions were shortlisted for the Best Mental Health Partnership at the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Partnership Awards that took place this week. The award recognises partnerships that have enabled the delivery of better mental health services, putting patients at the centre of care, engaging the community and reducing stigma.
The ground-breaking Mental Health Crisis Care service which supports people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is a partnership between S12 Solutions, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership of CCGs and Hampshire and Isle of Wight STP.
In 2019, Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCGs and STP (HIOW) adopted S12 Solutions to support partnership working in the mental health crisis care pathway. Analysis had identified that Mental Health Act (MHA) assessments were sometimes delayed by manual processes which was increasing patient distress. S12 Solutions created an app and website to address this.
The new system allows clinicians to direct patients to place of safety where specialist doctors will be available to see them. This has meant that the time taken to get the right specialist to the patient has more than halved. The efficiency of the new service has also led to an increase in the number of specialist doctors registered which has meant that the service is better, and quicker.
Due to strong competition, the Hampshire partnership narrowly missed out on the top spot to Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust. Their work to speed up the way the NHS supports people across Hampshire in an acute mental health crisis was highly commended for the work that has been undertaken through digital innovation supporting the Crisis Care Pathway.
Sonya Mclean, Senior Commissioning Manager for Mental Health Crisis Care at the Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight CCG said: “Although we did not win, we are very proud to receive the High Commendation for the work we have carried out. For me, personally coming second place in such a prestigious award is amazing among all the many hundreds of applications they would have received.”
The HSJ awards recognises the exceptional work that organisations are doing in partnership with the NHS. Further information about the awards and the winners can be found here: HSJ Partnership Awards 2021 winners revealed