Crisis Houses & Safe Havens - Kent & Medway

This service is for the provision of a Crisis Houses service.<br/>The objectives of this project are to commission two Adult Mental Health Crisis Houses in<br/>Kent and Medway. These crisis houses will be for when someone is experiencing a period of<br/>acute psychological distress, associated with a mental health problem (which may or may<br/>not have been given a formal diagnosis). The crisis may be a sudden deterioration of an<br/>existing mental health difficulty or they may be experiencing mental health difficulties for the<br/>first time. They need immediate treatment and/or care and/or support in order to prevent<br/>further deterioration in their mental or physical wellbeing and to help avoid hospital<br/>admission.<br/>The rationale for the development of this service centres around how it can:<br/>1) Provide positive outcomes for people in Psychological or Mental Health Crisis who require<br/>urgent and intensive support.<br/>2) Provide an alternative to an Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Admission<br/>3) Reduce impact on the wider Mental Health Urgent and Emergency Care services (Liaison<br/>Psychiatry, Rapid Response, Home Treatment, Section 136 Health Based Place of Safety.<br/>Inpatient Services)<br/>Delivered by the VCSE a Crisis House is a service that offers short-term residential mental<br/>health crisis interventions and support for a duration of up to 7 days, for individuals who are<br/>experiencing mental health crisis. Analysis of local NHS Mental Health inpatient admissions<br/>evidences a cohort of inpatients whose needs could be met in a Crisis House as an<br/>alternative to inpatient admission which will offer significant benefits to service users. Crisis Houses can prevent possible hospital admission and ensure only those who are acutely<br/>unwell or at very high risk of suicide are admitted to hospital. Crisis Houses are embedded<br/>within a number of ICSs, with a number of positive outcomes including high service user<br/>satisfaction and decreased reliance upon acute inpatient admission. Underpinning the<br/>philosophy of Crisis House provision is social inclusion and linking with the wider VCSE<br/>service provision.

The service is for the provision of Safe Havens across Kent & Medway<br/>The objective of this project is to commission 9 Safe Havens across K&M, 2 of which will be open 24/7 and co-located within a General Acute Hospital site. Individuals can stay up to 24hrs in the 2 co-located Safe Havens. This will enable 24/7 provision across the County.<br/>Psychiatric Liaison Mental Health Triage Nurses can redirect individuals attending Emergency Departments (ED) with primary mental health problems who do not require a physical health intervention. The 7 community based safe havens will be open 7 days a week from 18.00 – 23.00 providing out of hours support for people in a self-defined crisis who are likely to have called 999 or 111 and been conveyed or directed to or self-presented at A&E for mental health assessment.<br/>The service specification has developed as part of the Kent and Medway Provider Collaborative partnership with agencies and services across the Kent and Medway System, including: -<br/>

• VCSE Organisations<br/>
• Acute Hospital Trusts, EKHUFT, MTW, DVH and MFT<br/>
• Mental Health Provider Trust<br/>
• Kent Police<br/>
• South East Coast Ambulance Services<br/>
• Placed Based Health Care Partnerships<br/>The rationale for the development of this service centres around how it can:<br/>1) Provide positive outcomes for people in Psychological or Mental Health distress who require urgent emotional support.<br/>2) Provide an alternative to attending A&E<br/>3) Reduce impact on the wider Mental Health Urgent and Emergency Care services (Liaison<br/>Psychiatry, Rapid Response, Home Treatment, Section 136 Health Based Place of Safety.<br/>Inpatient Services)<br/>4) Reduce impact on ‘Blue Light’ services, specifically calls to 111 and 999 and ambulance<br/>conveyance<br/>The service is in line with NHS England’s Long-Term Plan and will involve the development of partnership agreements, Escalation Policies and procedures, service standards, Standard<br/>Operating Procedures and pathways to ensure that people experiencing urgent mental health needs in K&M can access a range of crisis alternatives and a safe place to receive a<br/>supportive offer in the community.<br/>This service has been designed taking into account learning from Safe Haven Providers and<br/>Service Users across the Country, along with engagement of people with lived experience and professionals who have fed in their views to help shape this draft specification and<br/>emerging model.<br/>The service will be resourced by a suitable experienced Provider who has demonstrated that they can meet the contract requirements and deliver good outcomes for local people. The<br/>service will be supported with clinical in reach from statutory services – this model will be coproduced<br/>by local partners to agree on what this looks like and reviewed on an on-going<br/>basis