s12 Solutions Webinar: 30th July 2020
13/07/20
The High Intensity Network has a great co-supporting relationship with another Mental Health innovation on the NHS Innovation Accelerator called s12 Solutions.
s12 Solutions helps Local Authority leaders find doctors in their area who are available to respond and support Mental Health Act Assessments. This reduces the time that the person in crisis waits for an assessment. It reduces stress and anxiety on family and friends and it reduces the time required to detain the individual prior to the assessment, helping to assist legal compliance and adher to principles of 'Least Restrictive Intervention'. It also saves money too.
s12 Solutions are holding a webinar about their innovation at the end of the month.
If you would like to join this webinar, please click on the details provided.
National Strategy on Policing and Mental Health 2020: Our Response
30/06/20
This month, the National Police Chief's Council published its latest report on Policing and Mental Health; their latest vision of how policing and the criminal justice system should interface with mental health services.
We are proud that as a network, our approach to policing and mental health perfectly fits these latest N.P.C.C objectives.
We have identified 7 core ways in which we deliver this Strategy.
1. AUTONOMY AND DIGNITY:
The Police Service no longer considers Mental Health Services as a completely separate public service but instead as an essential partner with whom a daily operational relationship is vital to deliver core policing objectives. Police officers in 2020 are far more confident with all things 'mental health'. There are some simply outstanding police officers out there, who lead and drive mental health service development. One of the offshoots of this gradual evolution, is that officers are now far less likely to fear mental health incidents and far more likely to confidently seek a wide range of solutions where the rights and autonomy of the patient can be respected as much as possible.
The High Intensity Network: is helping police forces train their staff to be less fear based in their decision making and to focus significantly on decision making quality, in line with College of Policing Risk Principles.
2. PATIENTS ARE 'EXPERTS IN THEIR OWN CARE'
Even more impressive, is the wider confidence now developing across police forces; that officers can really stop and think about what decision is best for a patient in full crisis. The days where officers would detain anyone showing the smallest signs of distress are rapidly fading. Now, officers of all ranks are growing in confidence and are more willing to trust pre-planned solutions. The terms 'patient knows best' and 'co-production' (already widely used within the NHS) are now also becoming part of the policing crisis care dictionary.
The High Intensity Network: leads the way in methodologies that convert the patient's wishes into operationally effective and trustworthy crisis response plans.
3. PATIENT SAFETY IS CORE POLICE BUSINESS
What a refreshing statement to make within this report!
For too long senior police leaders have tried to separate mental illness away from other forms of vulnerability stating that "Mental Health is not core business" or "Mental Health Police Officers is not a core policing role". Finally we are collectively acknowledging that by advancing our understanding of mental, behavioural, learning and organic health, we will not only help protect vulnerable people but advance our clinical understanding of offending, investigation and crime prevention.
The High Intensity Network: provides high quality police training products that converts clinical language into an operational policing vocabulary. The Police Service should never become a 'Mental Health Service' in its own right but the Criminal Justice System can only benefit by becoming more in tune with the brokenness and trauma often lurking behind unacceptable, anti-social and criminal behaviour.
4. THE PROPORTIONATE AND NECESSARY USE OF POLICE RESOURCES
The N.P.C.C state that the use of police resources in supporting people with mental health issues is vital, but that policing must only be used where necessary and where policing skills are essential. Take a look at our core principles and the core design of what we do and you will find a well thought through, perfectly balanced allocation of police resources in both supporting mental health related vulnerability and preventing 'disease from becoming disorder'.
The High Intensity Network: ensures that every patient adopted onto our national programme has to pass a 5 point national assessment process. This ensures that only the most challenging and complex patients, posing the highest risk of harm to themselves and others are supported by our specialist officers, whose agenda is to primarily to help the patient protect themselves more effectively and to avoid criminal justice outcomes.
5. DATA DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT AS ONE NATIONAL PROGRAMME
The N.P.C.C advocates that all partnership work between Policing and Mental Health is best designed and improved using high quality data within a unified programme. It sites the development of Street Triage Teams (from 2011-present) as an example where data led performance was weak and where the 43 forces unilaterally started their own projects, without the benefits of a national programme providing nationally agreed objectives, data sets, performance management principles, safety standards and governance.
The High Intensity Network: has learnt from this and now supports its teams with a complete national package of standards, training and CPD courses, performance management tools, data standards and agreed data collection methodologies. Police forces and NHS Trusts on the network communicate with each other twice a month via a national webinar programme.
6. CROSS BORDER RISK
The N.P.C.C also recognises the risks presented to policing when patients cross borders; that officers in one force will be 'operating blind' if a patient enters their force area from another county or region. Furthermore, this lack of crisis tracking means that patients will often receive high costs responses and hospitalisation when they don't need it.
The High Intensity Network: is working with the British Transport Police, the City of London Police and Heathrow Airport to develop a digital crisis tracking tool that will be able to plot the cross border journeys of patients from one NHS area to another. This will improve the intelligence flow of crisis information, improve the way in which GP's and secondary MH services are alerted. This will slowly help to reduce repeat events.
In April 2021, we will also be launching HISAFE, the UK's first cross border crisis care plan database which will allow the crisis plan for a patient to be found within minutes should they arrive in an area of the country where they are unknown.
7. JOINTLY REVIEWING DEMAND
Finally the N.P.C.C recommends that mental health crisis care is best developed as an 'all system' programme, where the demands and costs of mental health response are jointly collected, analysed and used by all core agencies involved in emergency care and response.
The High Intensity Network: ensures that all teams only operate as a single system project. Multi-agency partnership lies at the heart of what we do. Our crisis plans and tactical advice are provided for all services: primary, secondary and third sector.
We can only keep patients safer if we all agree that we are 'Safer Together'.
We look forward to our continued partnership with the N.P.C.C in the coming year.
Paul Jennings
National Director
SIM ESSEX PLANNING FOR EXPANSION
23/06/20
Our two SIM teams have been operating in Chelmsford and Southend since 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Local system leaders are now looking to start two new teams in CastlePoint & Rochford as well as Colchester.
SIM CAMBRIDGESHIRE LAUNCHES JULY 1ST
15/06/20
Great news from Cambridgeshire as they have announced that their first ever SIM team will launch on 1st July!
Thank you to all who have been involved in this project, despite all the challenges faced along the way.
Its Mental Health Awareness Week
18/05/20
It is Mental Health Awareness Week.
In these difficult times, it is extra challenging to stay mentally well. Isolation is a challenge for us all. We are social animals and need contact with other people.
This year's theme is KINDNESS so why not be extra kind this week and make one of the following promises:
1. Contact someone you haven't contacted for a while, just to say hello.
2. Forgive someone who you need to forgive. Forgiveness is a great gift to give yourself as much as the person you are forgiving.
3. Ask someone this week about their mental health.
4. Talk about your mental health with someone...perhaps for the first time.
5. Cook a meal for your family and discuss mental health at the dinner table.
6. Make a mental health quiz and test your family one evening.
7. Discuss the phrase 'Bless others and you will be blessed yourself' (is kindness a two way process?)
8. Talk to someone in the street or perhaps in a queue...a complete stranger! Make conversation!
9. Tell someone at work you really appreciate them or admire them.
10. Look in the mirror and tell yourself 3 things you like about yourself.
As our amazing high intensity teams continue to support our most intensive crisis care clients despite the current pandemic, I wish you all a safe, kindness filled week.
Paul
Network Director
First team launches in West Yorkshire!
21/02/20
We are delighted to announce that West Yorkshire Police and SW Yorkshire Partnership NHS have launched their first team in Wakefield this week! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the launch of this team.
We look forward to working with you all in 2020.
First meeting at Heathrow Airport
03/02/20
Today we met key safeguarding leaders from Heathrow Airport and the Metropolitan Police to discuss how best to protect people who are vulnerable, and often homeless within the airport perimeter.
We will be returning to develop solutions that will improve intelligence processes and safety partnerships across the UK.
First conversation in Wales takes place
31/01/20
We are delighted to announce that this week we met with senior leaders from key mental health crisis care organisations to discuss the future of crisis care.
As a result, we will be returning to Wales soon to meet other leaders from across the country.
Furthermore, we will be now working towards the launch of our first SIM team, led by Dyfed-Powys Police, in partnership with Hafal Health Board and Mind Cymru.
More news to follow soon........
First team in Lancashire launching this week.
07/01/20
5 teams are being planned across the Lancashire Integrated Care System during the course of 2020.
The first team will be going live this week in Blackburn.
Teams 2 and 3 will launch in the spring in Preston and Blackpool.
Teams 4 and 5 will be in Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness.
USA Team going from strength to strength
06/01/20
The work of our team in Minnesota, USA has just been highlighted on their local TV news channel.
We are absolutely thrilled that mental health and policing teams are now combining all over the world to provide better, integrated care.
We are also supporting staff in Denmark, Norway and New Zealand as they assess the need for teams within their health and policing networks.
To view the USA TV report, click on the link below and scroll down.