What should I expect after being referred for mental health support?

What should I expect after being referred for mental health support?

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Your mental wellness is as important as your physical health but seeking help can be daunting. Healthwatch England has put together a guide about what to expect when you seek support for your mental health.

Mental health matters. One in four of us can experience poor mental health each year. However, only one in eight adults with ill-mental health is getting treatment.

If you have been struggling with your mental health and are referred for support or are thinking about seeking help, here’s what you should expect from your care.

What should I expect when being referred to a mental health service?

If your GP thinks mental health services can help you, they will write to them to ask for an appointment. Your GP should discuss with you the different types of mental health support available – both within the NHS and provided within the community. You should be involved in deciding what kind of service you think would best suit your needs.

NICE guidance recommends that the mental health services should do their best to offer you an appointment within three weeks of your GP writing to them. New NHS standards set to be implemented later this year state that you should be offered an appointment within four weeks after being referred for community-based mental health services.

Your appointment letter should include information about getting there and a number to call if you have problems. It should also clearly state who you will see and what will happen during an assessment.

The letter should also ask if you need any additional support to help communicate or if you would like to bring a family member, carer or advocate with you.

Questions to ask during your assessment

After being referred to a mental health service, you’ll need to attend an assessment. You might feel nervous about this, but it’s important to think about some of the questions you can ask to make sure you get the most out of your appointment. Here are some examples:

  • Why am I being offered an assessment?
  • Will you tell anyone about my mental health problem?
  • Who can provide my treatment and care?
  • Are there any support organisations in my local area?
  • Have you got any information for my family or carer?
  • How can I manage my own condition?
  • Who can I contact if I need help quickly between appointments (in a crisis)?

What should I expect from mental health professionals?

The first mental health professionals you might speak to at your GP surgery might be a Mental Health Practitioner, who can advise you on access to services, or your GP who can refer you to a mental health service.

When referred to a mental health service, you might speak to a qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP), a qualified high-intensity therapist, another healthcare professional or your consultant (this could be a nurse, a psychiatrist or another clinician).

The health and social care professionals supporting you should be easy to identify, friendly and welcoming. They should understand that you may feel nervous and do their best to make your feel comfortable.

How should I be involved in my treatment?

Doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals should support you to make decisions about your treatment and care.

They should encourage you to manage your condition, including recognising warning sides of your situation worsening.

Professionals should provide you with resources to support you in a format you can understand and information of where you can go to get further support. Your mental health team should explain your treatment and also work with you to develop a care plan, including:

  • Activities, such as education, work, volunteering, caring for family members or leisure activities
  • What you can do to keep well
  • How to cope with and reduce any risks to yourself or others
  • Who to contact in a crisis

If there’s a risk you may have a crisis, there should also be a crisis plan.

What should I do in a crisis?

There should be a local 24-hour helpline you can call in a crisis. Your GP or mental health team should be able to give you this number.

If the crisis team thinks you need an assessment or treatment from mental health services, you should:

  • be seen within four hours and be given clear information about what’s involved
  • asked whether you would prefer a male or female professional to assess you
  • be asked where you’d like the assessment to take place

The crisis team should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and should support you to stay at home rather than going into hospital if possible.

Can my family, carer or advocate be involved in my treatment?

Professionals should make sure you can make decisions about your treatment – this is called ‘capacity’. This can change over time if your mental health condition is severe, and your doctor might ask you if you want to make an advance statement or advance decision about your future care.

Mental health professionals should also ask you if you would like a family member, carer or trained advocate involved in your care and, if you agree, what information you’d like to share with them.

Find out more about what you should expect from mental health care in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

Read the guidelines

Find mental health services and support

Have your say – let us know what you think of mental health services you or a family member have used.

 

Care homes, Covid-19 and beyond

Care homes, Covid-19 and beyond

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In September 2020 it was widely reported that people who were living in care homes in Northumberland during lockdowns had struggled to keep in touch with their loved ones, as visiting restrictions were in place to protect the most vulnerable from infection.

We responded by asking for feedback from people whose loved ones were in care homes in Northumberland. We hosted a series of online forums which took place in November 2020, January 2021, March 2021, and June 2021. We had 46 attendees across these four forums consisting of 26 different people, as many attended more than one and in some cases all of the forums.

At different stages of changes in visiting guidance for care homes these forums gathered feedback from relatives around their experience of visiting and other ways they were keeping in touch with loved ones during the pandemic. We also heard from professionals who work with older people including those with dementia, their carers, and other professionals in the health and social care field.

It is important to acknowledge that the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented and care home staff had to work under extremely difficult and challenging conditions for a long time. Whilst many relatives who attended the forums generally had less than positive experiences to share, they were also keen to know what good practice was taking place across care homes.

Visiting experiences had also improved by our final forum and survey responses have also shared positive approaches taking place. We ran a survey for relatives of those living in care homes and care home staff from mid-March to early June 2021 to gather additional feedback. The survey had a total of 22 responses.

Read more in our report: Care Homes, Covid-19 and Beyond

Find lots of information and support at our Your Health pages

Join your local Patient Participation Group

Join your local Patient Participation Group

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Join your local Patient Participation Group and help the NHS shape services for your community

Are you interested in influencing how your GP practice works and about the health services it delivers? Your practice patient participation group (PPG) could be for you. 

A PPG is a group of patients, carers and GP practice staff who meet to discuss practice issues and patient experience to help improve the service.

PPGs work in partnership with their GP practice and are vital in ensuring that the patient voice is heard. PPGs have an increasingly important role to play in helping to give patients a say in the way services are delivered to best meet their needs, and the needs of the local community.  

By becoming a member of your local PPG you will be helping to support your local NHS services and community by being a critical friend to your practice and you could be:

  • Helping them communicate to patients how recent changes to the NHS will affect services provided 
  • Advising the practice on the patient perspective 
  • Involved in organising health promotion events
  • Helping the practice decide on overall service priorities
  • Helping to carry out research into the views of service users and carers

Northumberland has 40 member practices across the county, some with established PPGs delivering their own community health improvement initiatives such as book clubs, walking groups and knit and natter groups and asking patients and carers their views on using services through surveys and meetings. Groups work in different ways; some meet in person, others communicate with their practice online – all are keen to welcome and involve new members.

If you are interested in joining your local PPG, please contact your GP Practice Manager or NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group, Communications and Engagement Team by emailing: lesley.tweddell@nhs.net who will help advise you about your nearest PPG.

What to expect when waiting for care

What to expect when waiting for care

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Waiting for planned medical care or surgery can be a frustrating time. That’s why it’s so important that while you wait, you get regular, clear and accessible updates so that you can plan your next steps.

If you or a loved one is waiting for care, read the information from Healthwatch England below to find out what healthcare staff should be doing when contacting you.

Communications from healthcare staff should:

Be personalised to you and not just a generic response

When you’re contacted by healthcare staff about your upcoming appointment, they should provide honest information about your next steps. You must be made aware of realistic timescales and what to expect while you wait so that you can make an informed decision about your treatment.

Put you at ease around safety concerns regarding COVID-19

Significant steps have been taken to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission while in hospitals. But, if you have any concerns about your safety while in hospital, you should be given contact details to discuss these concerns with a healthcare professional.

Use clear language

When healthcare staff contact you, the language they use should be clear, accessible and easy to understand – whether that’s by letter, email or on the phone. Of course, sometimes technical terms are needed, but these should always be explained to you first.

Share their decision making

You should be part of the conversation when decisions around your health are being made. Healthcare staff should support you to make the right decisions for you and outline the risks and benefits of going ahead with, cancelling or delaying your procedure.

Be transparent around delays and cancellations

When contacted regarding a delay or cancellation to your appointment, you should be provided with a clear reason and information about what happens next. Healthcare professionals must be open and honest with you and give a realistic timescale when you should expect to hear from them again. Further support should be provided to you to help you manage your condition whilst waiting for care. This could be information about or access to other health and care services, or access to pain relief. Above all, it should be clear who you should contact if your condition deteriorates. Your safety should always be the priority.

If you are waiting for an operation and this gets cancelled for a non-clinical reason on the day you were due for surgery, your hospital should offer you another fixed date within 28 days or fund your treatment at a date and hospital of your choice.

Be in your preferred way of communication

Information around your upcoming care should be easy to access and provide you with the option to ask questions. It’s essential that you receive information in they way you prefer. This can often be via phone but alternative options should be available for anyone with specific language or communication needs.

 

Tell us your story – We want to know if you’re getting the advice, information and support you need while you wait. Get in touch to share your experience.

Menopause support

Menopause support

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A blog written by 47 year old Gaynor Tucker from Redcar, is helping to support women through perimenopause and menopause. Gaynor has set up a national Facebook support group to help other women going through the same experience as herself.

The group is about sharing experiences and offering peer support to ensure no woman feels they are going through this alone. There are also future plans to encourage more professionals to become involved. Gaynor hopes that the blog and the group will help raise awareness about the difficulties women face when seeking support during the menopause and help to make improvements in this area.

In July, the group held their first virtual live session where a nutritionist answered questions from the group about eating healthier and how to reduce the weight gain that is experienced by many women during this time. More of these sessions are planned over the next few months.

Read Gaynor’s Blog

Join the Facebook group

We’re recruiting – join our board!

We’re recruiting – join our board!

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Could this be you?

  • Are you passionate about improving local NHS and care services?
  • Could you act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of your community and let us know about any changes needed to local health and social care services?
  • Do you want to ensure Healthwatch Northumberland works in an inclusive and equitable way?

Great! We would like you think about joining our board.

You would be one of 15 board members who guide and oversee Healthwatch Northumberland’s work.

It is very important the people involved with Healthwatch Northumberland have experience of using health and social care services including as a carer. We are keen to hear how you could use what you know to help understand what is happening in our diverse communities.

How much time is involved?

The minimum commitment is four board meetings per year plus a review day.  Meetings take place during the working day, and last approximately 2.5 hours.  We meet in different places (we pay travel expenses) or online.

If you want to you can get more involved including helping us at community engagement events or with research.  It would be up to you.

If you want to know more have a look at our information pack and or contact Derry Nugent, Project Co-ordinator on 07590 880016 or derryn@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk.

Please return completed application forms by 1 October 2021.

Information Pack

Application Form

This vacancy has now closed.

£2million investment in Northumberland’s mental health services

£2million investment in Northumberland’s mental health services

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Community mental health services for people with serious mental illness in Northumberland are to receive £2million of additional funding over the next three years.

The national funding from NHS England/Improvement is to support more ‘joined up’ mental health care across a variety of organisations, including hospitals, community organisations, GP practices and charity and voluntary organisations, improving access to care closer to home.

As a result, people with serious mental illness, accessing mental health services and support across Northumberland will receive more holistic and tailored care depending on their need – just telling their story once.

Watch the launch video for the programme

Over the next three years, funding will be invested in transforming care for specific mental health conditions.

For example, this year the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is employing mental health practitioners to work in primary care in a joint initiative with six Primary Care Networks (groups of GP practices that work together) to ensure that mental health support and interventions are more accessible.

The community adult eating disorder service will be developed across Northumberland to respond to a range of eating disorders at a much earlier stage. This will enable opportunities for early detection and care being given at an earlier stage, improving the outcome for patients.

Patients who have complex emotional needs, and who may have suffered trauma, will receive support from staff who work closely with their GPs and other healthcare partners to provide greater emotional support.

More will be done to help prevent hospital admission, to seek alternative care and to prevent escalation of symptoms by enhancing the crisis pathways with staff who understand the social aspects of poor mental health, like fuel poverty, loneliness, and lack of employment.

Kate O’Brien, Senior Head of Commissioning, Child Health, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health, for NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “This is such a welcome and needed programme of work and I am extremely proud to be involved in it. We know it is going to improve the support and care for those that need mental health care across Northumberland. And after the last year and a half, this has never been more important. People have been through a very difficult period and I’m sure many are dealing with some very tough personal challenges and circumstances.

“Working in partnership across the wide range of organisations that provide mental health care and support is absolutely crucial to improve access and for this transformation to be a success and I know all involved are committed to improving the mental wellbeing of those that live in Northumberland. The integrated working across organisations will ensure that there is ‘no wrong door’ to access services and individuals should only need to tell their story once.”

GP practices, hospital mental health services and the voluntary sector across Northumberland will also work together to encourage the uptake of physical health checks for those with serious mental illness. These health checks will be available in GP practices and other community settings.

Northumberland Recovery College, which was launched in May 2021, is also part of this transformation work. The college is open to any adult living in Northumberland who would like to improve their mental health and wellbeing. It is not a physical building, but instead provides learning experiences, mutual support, and activities in local communities to improve wellbeing. The activities are often led by people with lived experience of mental ill-health. To find out more visit the website.

Partners working together on this transformation programme include Northumberland County Council, Northumberland NHS Commissioning Group, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Primary Care Networks across Northumberland, Healthwatch Northumberland, Mental Health Matters, Mental Health Concern, Carers Northumberland, the voluntary sector and service users themselves.

Find mental health services and support

How can your pharmacy help you?

How can your pharmacy help you?

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Did you know that pharmacies provide advice and information on minor illnesses and ailments?

Pharmacists are qualified healthcare professionals who can offer clinical advice and over-the-counter medicines for a range of minor illnesses. The pharmacist will let you know if you need to visit a doctor, but they can help you with a number of things first.

Healthwatch England has put together some questions and answers about how a pharmacist can help you.

Can a pharmacist prescribe medication?

Pharmacists can offer advice and over-the-counter medication to help with a range of common conditions and minor injuries such as:

  • common ailments such as coughs, colds and the flu
  • tummy trouble
  • aches and pains
  • skin rashes
  • cystitis
  • access to the morning after pill and pregnancy tests

Your pharmacist can help manage repeat prescriptions and help with any questions that you might have about medication that you have been prescribed by the doctor.

If you’re taking lots of different medicines, you may be able to have a Medicines Use Review with your pharmacist to help you work out when you should be taking your medication and discuss any questions or side effects.

Do I need to see the doctor every time I need a prescription?

Not necessarily, your pharmacist can help manage repeat prescriptions for you. If you take medication on a regular basis and your condition is stable, your GP may be able to offer a long-term repeat prescription.

Who do I turn to about general advice for my health and wellbeing?

You can visit your pharmacist instead of your GP about how best to keep you and your family well. They’ve all sorts of advice, from how to eat healthily, lose weight, and what type of exercise you could be doing.

What other services do pharmacists offer?

Your local pharmacist might also offer other NHS services such as smoking cessation, blood pressure tests, weight management and flu vaccination. To find out what your community pharmacist offers, just ask them.

What training do pharmacists have?

All pharmacists train for five years in the use of medicines. They are also trained in managing minor illnesses and providing health and wellbeing advice.

Is a chat with my pharmacist confidential?

Many pharmacies have a private consultation room where you can discuss issues with pharmacy staff without being overheard. Ask them if you would like to talk in private.

 

Find your local pharmacy

Tell us about your recent experience of a health or social care service

Join the Stroke Service User Voice Group

Join the Stroke Service User Voice Group

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Do you have experience of having a stroke or caring for someone after a stroke? The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Stroke Delivery Network (ISDN) is looking for people to help develop and improve stroke care in the region.

It is important that stroke survivors are actively involved in discussions and decisions about stroke care to ensure services meet the needs of the people who use them.

The recently formed Stroke Service User Voice Group (SSUV) aims to represent the views and experiences of stroke survivors and their carers. To ensure that all areas across the North East and North Cumbria are represented in this group, the ISDN is currently looking for people who live in North Northumberland (Alnwick, Wooler, Berwick upon Tweed, Seahouses or Amble) to join.

For more information please contact: