A
Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust Assertive Outreach
Service for 75 service users with Severe and Enduring Mental Illness,
delivered in partnership with Tulip Mental Health Group
PURPOSE
The Enfield Assertive Outreach Service works with
service users across Enfield who are difficult to engage and treat,
targeting those who have multiple hospital admissions. The service is
focused on Edmonton, East Enfield and South Southgate.
The service aims to encourage concordance with treatment and
improve personal independence and social inclusion.
SERVICE DESCRIPTION
The current service is built on the Tulip multi
disciplinary team that was set up in partnership with the Mental Health
Trust in December 2003, which grew out of the generic Assertive Outreach
Service which Tulip set up in 1998.
In October 2006, the Enfield Primary Care Trust transferred the
mainstream funding of Assertive Outreach from Tulip to the Mental Health
Trust. The new service,
although firmly based with the Mental Health Trust, retains the
partnership working with Tulip that has been built up over many years.
Tulip staff are seconded into the Mental Health Trust and work in
the same team alongside Trust and Local Authority staff.
This model harnesses the skills and knowledge of both sectors and
creates a truly holistic, partnership – based service. The staff team is
multi-disciplinary, including an Approved Social Worker, Tulip Outreach
Workers a Nurse and medical cover provided via sessions from a Consultant
Psychiatrist and Associate Specialist. A Team Approach model is used where
all staff have a working knowledge of all service users.
The service offers a full range of support and
treatments, with close links to specialisms such as Clinical Psychology
and Occupational Therapy. Care Co-ordinator responsibilities are held for
all service users and the service is provided within the framework of the
Care Programme Approach with Care Plans designed, implemented, monitored
and reviewed in line with local policy guidance. The service is closely
linked into local Community Mental Health Teams, which provide the
majority of referrals. The team also works closely with specialist
agencies, services such as the Day Hospital and Crisis Resolution and Home
Treatment Service.
SUPPORT PROVIDED
The scheme provides an assertive outreach service to
service users with severe and enduring mental illness in the community; in
line with guidance in the DH Mental Health Policy Information Guide. The
service visits service users in their own homes or wherever they are and
focuses on encouraging service users to engage with available mental
health services, treatment options, including medications where
appropriate. The service is assertive, persistent and creative and works
holistically to provide the whole range of treatment and support
available, from medication and support with practical tasks of daily
living, to support with leisure, social, education and employment
opportunities and links with family, friends and the community. Service
users continue to receive regular visits if admitted to hospital, thereby
providing ongoing support and promoting service continuity.
The service actively case manages 45 service users within the
service and additionally actively and assertively manages 30 dispersed
service users held within CMHTs.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
