Following the publication of NHS England policy and guidance in relation to inpatient mental health care in 2023, we recently launched a new Inpatient Improvement Network across North East London (NEL).
The Network launched under the NEL Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism (MHLDA) Provider Collaborative – aiming to share learnings and build collaborations to drive up the quality of inpatient care.
A launch event was held at Leyton Orient Football Club on Monday, 11th March, and invites were extended to the four adult and older adult inpatient mental health units in Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Goodmayes.
The aim of the event was to find out what work is already underway, and potential areas to focus on over the next three years.
The afternoon heard from a range of speakers, including ELFT’s Interim Chief Nurse, Claire McKenna, NELFT’s Chief Nurse Wellington Makala and Dr Sarah Dracass, the Medical Director for the Adult/Older Adult Mental Health Inpatient and Urgent Care Pathways across ELFT and the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT).
Dr Dracass introduced the inpatient papers written by NHS England and the Commissioning Framework for Mental Health Inpatient Services.
This was put together by the NEL Health & Care Partnership – encompassing NELFT, ELFT and the NEL Integrated Care Board (ICB) – describing a vision for inpatient mental health services. This included high impact actions, such as:
- Ensuring rapid access to senior decision-makers to support admission decisions where appropriate.
- Exploring opportunities for a London-agreement with local authorities (LAs) to support funding decisions.
- Scoping what a London-wide ambition to reduce Length of Stay may look like.
- Supporting psychological safety and resilience of staff through a collective statement of support.
- Ensuring all admissions have a clear purpose with a discharge plan formulated within 72 hours of admission.
Following on from Dr Dracass and Claire McKenna’s words, table-top discussions were held between the boroughs, enabling the network to better-understand:
- What is currently being done,
- Areas that are working well,
- What is innovative, and;
- What the enablers are.
This led to a discussion about what improvements can be made across both of our trusts.
We are now compiling the outputs from the day to put towards the development of a 3-year plan across North East London to improve care.
If you have any questions about the Inpatient Improvement Network, please contact our Programme Director, Jamie Stafford, by emailing jamie.stafford@nhs.net.