Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

Councillor Liz Frost (Epsom and Ewell Borough Council) declared an interest on the grounds of her employment with the NHS.  Councillor Liz Frost had received a dispensation from Epsom & Ewell Borough Council’s Standards Committee to speak and vote on matters related to health.

The Panel is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the meeting of the Health Liaison Panel held on 7 July 2016 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Health Liaison Panel held on 7 July 2016 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman, subject to noting that Councillor Lucy Botting was a councillor with Mole Valley District Council and not Elmbridge Borough Council as stated in the declarations of interest.

Presentation by Justin Wilson, Medical Director, and Kate Sigov, Deputy Director of Children’s and Young People’s Services on various issues affecting mental health services in the local area.

Mr. Justin Wilson, Medical Director, and Ms. Kate Sigov, Deputy Director of Children’s and Young People’s Services at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust updated the Panel on various issues affecting mental health services in the local area.

Mr. Wilson began by speaking about the Trust’s clinical strategy.  The Strategy underpinned all its work and had evolved to focus on prevention.  This was particularly important when looking at the Children’s’ and Adolencent’s Mental Health Service model (CAMHS).  The Trust was accountable for services but worked in partnership to get the best care for young people.

Mr. Wilson considered that there had been a real improvement in mental health services.  The Trust’s values focussed on improving people’s lives – involving them in services and being open, honest and accountable about and for the services it provided.  In terms of creating respectful treatment environments, the Trust’s main focus was around Surrey with the exception of its drug and alcohol services which were based in Croydon.

The Panel was aware that the Trust’s Wards in the Langley Wing at Epsom Hospital had been relocated.  This was currently being stated as a temporary measure.  Following a review of the wards, the Trust had concluded that, whilst the accessibility of the facilities for the locality needed to be balanced against the fact that care would now be provided further away from home for some, the environment there no longer enabled it to provide the type of surroundings the Trust wanted people to experience when being helped in their recovery.  The surroundings at the Langley Wing were not in line with the Trust’s vision and values of creating respectful places and treating people well.  The Delius and Elgar wards had therefore been consolidated with the Trust’s hospital services at the Abraham Cowley Unit on the St Peter’s Hospital site in Chertsey in early February 2017.

The Panel noted that the average length of stay as an inpatient was about 35 days and the focus of care was on enabling them to return home as soon as possible. The Trust rarely saw stays of a year. Readmission rates were good. The Trust did have services for older people with some units at West Park and a ward in the Abraham Cowley unit in Chertsey which focused on mental health (not necessarily dementia). The Trust aimed to get to the point when patients very rarely required to be admitted to hospital, particularly in dementia cases, but rather were receiving intensive support to enable them to remain at home.

The Trust had opened a new hospital at Farnham Road in Guildford just over a year ago.  The emphasis on the new build was around environment: a state-of-the-art hospital with therapeutic surroundings that aided recovery and the Trust had a desire to replicate this in the East of the County.  The Trust had originally intended to build three new hospitals but was now considering whether two hospitals would meet local needs.  The Trust was liaising with commissioners on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Talk by Allen Price of Love Me, Love My Mind, a small registered charity based in Epsom which aims to promote better understanding of mental health. The charity last presented to the Panel in 2014 and this year marks the tenth anniversary of its mental health awareness week to be held in October 2017.

The Panel received a short view presentation and talk by Allen Price on the work of the local charity, “Love Me, Love My Mind”.

The charity was founded in 2006 and this year marked the tenth anniversary of its mental health awareness week - to be held in October this year. The charity aimed to promote better understanding of mental health and to support the wellbeing of everyone in the community. It was run entirely by volunteers and funded by grants and donations.

The charity also provided a weekly drop in session for 35 – 40 people every Monday as a place where people could come and talk about some of the difficult issues they were experiencing. Everyone was welcome, especially those isolated by mental health difficulties.

The Panel recognised the important role this charity played in the local community, particularly in helping those in crisis to access the support they might need, and was proud to count one of its volunteers as a member of Council staff.  The Head of Housing and Environmental Services echoed this, citing the link between mental health and homelessness and that this was an increasing worry in the 18-21 year old age group who would soon not be entitled to Housing Benefit.