Agenda item

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee agreed to:

1.  The procurement of the Integrated Mental Health Network service commencing on 1st July 2023 for a period of up to four years, at a maximum value of £5,400,000 (£1,350,000 per year).

2.  A three month extension of the existing contract for the Integrated Mental Health Network service with Mind - City, Hackney and Waltham Forest until the end of June 2023 at a cost of £336,062.50 (£1,344,250 annual equivalent).

REASONS FOR DECISION

Building on the successes of the existing service, the redesigned Integrated

Mental Health Network will further improve the coordination of services whilst

also more effectively targeting those with the greatest need.

The proposed service will provide holistic, innovative and evidence based

mental health support to people with complex mental health problems to

improve their wellbeing. These interventions will include talking therapies,

1:1 coordination, support groups, education sessions, activities, digital

interventions and practical support. The support offered will be holistic,

person centred support, including a strong emphasis on service user choice

and control and, where appropriate, will be delivered in partnership with other

relevant support services. The ultimate goal is to enable the resident to

successfully move on from needing mental health services to long-term

wellbeing and independence.

The Integrated Mental Health Network will deliver improvements in mental

health and wellbeing outcomes for City and Hackney residents. This should

also lead to a reduction in secondary care admissions and risk of crisis. It

should also lead to a reduction in dependence on other local support

services. Mental health is closely linked to issues such as employment,

substance use, poverty and experience of trauma. By providing holistic

mental health support to residents, the service should have a positive impact

on employment, payment of bills and dependence on local support services.

Another key aim of the service is to contribute to a reduction in health

inequalities, which will be achieved by targeting residents with complex

needs, as well as through the design and range of interventions provided,

ensuring they are tailored towards the communities with the highest need

and barriers to accessing mental health support.

The primary target population group for the service will be City and Hackney

residents with high and complex mental health needs, who are ineligible or

too complex for primary mental health services but do not meet the threshold

for secondary care, something that has been identified as a gap both locally

and nationally. The service will also use its infrastructure and expertise to

facilitate the development of community based, lower level and preventative

mental health interventions.

Excellent partnership working and coordination will be a priority for this

service.

9.1  A Consultant in Public Health introduced the report which outlined how the Integrated Mental Health Network would be delivered by a lead provider with elements of the service sub-contracted to a number of specialist providers. This would ensure a diverse service with multiple community providers that would reduce access barriers and ensure culturally relevant interventions. At the same time a lead provider responsible for the overall management of the service would ensure an efficient, well run service with equality of access based on need.

9.2  The Committee welcomed the report and thanked officers for all their hard work on the programme. The members noted that in relation to the Better Health Fund, with the first round of applications there was so many organisations with good quality bids that with the second round the Council was able to state that they would not fund anyone that who had applied in the first round by giving entirely new organisations the opportunity to contribute to better mental health in Hackney.

9.3  On the issue of insourcing, the Consultant in Public Health explained that currently the Council was unable to reconcile insourcing as an appropriate direction for this project. However, the Council would continue to keep under review and for the duration of the new contract and to identify if there was any barriers that were solvable.

9.4  The Council’s Senior Public Health Specialist added that in terms of insourcing one of the key areas of focus should be access to mental health services. Further work could be undertaken to look into this matter but through the consultation work it had become clear that the current service offered a different service to the NHS and the local authorities. With the model but forward, with a number of small providers in the network, some of those providers were already embedded in communities and opened opportunities for the Council to engage with parts of the local community they had not previously been able to  engage with. Bring the service in-house could have implications for the reach the Council currently have into those communities maybe quite significant.

9.5  The Chair recommended that the issue of insourcing should be kept under review by the Council’s public health service and the committee.

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee agreed to:

1.  The procurement of the Integrated Mental Health Network service commencing on 1st July 2023 for a period of up to four years, at a maximum value of £5,400,000 (£1,350,000 per year).

2.  A three month extension of the existing contract for the Integrated Mental Health Network service with Mind - City, Hackney and Waltham Forest until the end of June 2023 at a cost of £336,062.50 (£1,344,250 annual equivalent).

REASONS FOR DECISION

9.4  Building on the successes of the existing service, the redesigned Integrated Mental Health Network will further improve the coordination of services whilst also more effectively targeting those with the greatest need.

Service description

9.5  The proposed service will provide holistic, innovative and evidence based mental health support to people with complex mental health problems to improve their wellbeing. These interventions will include talking therapies, 1:1 coordination, support groups, education sessions, activities, digital interventions and practical support. The support offered will be holistic, person centred support, including a strong emphasis on service user choice and control and, where appropriate, will be delivered in partnership with other relevant support services. The ultimate goal is to enable the resident to successfully move on from needing mental health services to long-term wellbeing and independence.

9.6  The Integrated Mental Health Network will deliver improvements in mental health and wellbeing outcomes for City and Hackney residents. This should also lead to a reduction in secondary care admissions and risk of crisis. It should also lead to a reduction in dependence on other local support services. Mental health was closely linked to issues such as employment, substance use, poverty and experience of trauma. By providing holistic mental health support to residents, the service should have a positive impact on employment, payment of bills and dependence on local support services.

9.7  Another key aim of the service was to contribute to a reduction in health

inequalities, which will be achieved by targeting residents with complex

needs, as well as through the design and range of interventions provided, ensuring they are tailored towards the communities with the highest need and barriers to accessing mental health support.

9.8  The primary target population group for the service will be City and Hackney residents with high and complex mental health needs, who are ineligible or too complex for primary mental health services but do not meet the threshold for secondary care, something that has been identified as a gap both locally and nationally. The service will also use its infrastructure and expertise to facilitate the development of community based, lower level and preventative mental health interventions.

9.9   Excellent partnership working and coordination will be a priority for this

service.