Agenda item

The Divisional Director Public Health submits a briefing report which outlines the progress that has been made since the Council signed the Mental Health Challenge Pledge in January 2014.

The Deputy City Mayor has been invited to present the briefing report at the meeting.

The Divisional Director Public Health submitted a briefing report which outlined the progress that has been made since the Council signed the Mental Health Challenge Pledge in January 2014.

The Deputy City Mayor presented the briefing report at the meeting and made the following comments and observations in addition to those made in the report:-

·         It was proposed to elevate the lead officer for mental health to that of a divisional director as this would allow mental health issues to be discussed and fed into director level meetings on a more regular basis and would lead to more integration of the issues across all areas of Council working.

·         The Deputy City Mayor supported co-production and felt there was a need to ensure all commissions were skilled in co-production as this provided added value to the services commissioned and resulted in better services being commissioned.

·         The Assistant City Mayor Adult Social Care chaired the Mental Health Partnership Board and it was important that both he and the Chair of the Commission were involved in the work of the Board.

·         The Commission’s current review of mental health services to young black British men was a good example of reviewing an area of service that required change and which could otherwise be overlooked, as it was a discrete and specialised service.

·         The publication of the NHS Five Year Plan was silent on a mental health plan.  He had written to NHS England to with his concerns and suggested that the Commission may wish to make their views known as well.

·         Although much work had been done to tackle stigma and discrimination relating to mental health, further work and activity was still required to address these issues across the City.

·         Both the Executive and Scrutiny function of the Council had been proactive in feeding in their concerns to the CAMHS review in relation to the level of service provided and that Councils should be engaged earlier in the process in such reviews.

·         The Chief Constable was a national lead on mental health issues in policing and it was important to harness shared energy and commitment in the City involving external organisations and partners to achieve a focused outcome for mental health issues.

·         Both he and the Deputy City Mayor would engage and support all councillors in their ward work on mental health issues. 

Members of the Commission in discussing the report made the following comments and observations:-

·         The elevation of the lead officer to that of a divisional director was welcomed and supported.

·         There had been a positive start since signing the pledge which had given clarity around the Council’s role in mental health issues and promoting the wider agenda of co-production to achieve better outcomes in mental health services.  This required a strong leadership role to see better outcomes, policies and decisions being made.  The benefits would only be achieved if commissioners of services outside the ‘health’ arena fully understood the health priorities and how they could contribute to them.

·         The Council gave a number of grants to the voluntary and community sector to provide mental health services and the Council should continue to promote and urge the Clinical Commissioning Group and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust to involve this sector when commissioning their own mental health services.

·         There was benefit in considering successful models of service delivery in other countries as there were some good examples of non-clinical models using family and community support and these should not be discounted.

·         All councillors and staff needed to recognise that mental health issues were integrated throughout the whole of the services provided by the Council.  All councillors had signed the mental health pledge and it was important that they continued to promote and develop the work outlined in it.

Following further questions and comments from members it was noted that:-

·         There would be a question in the public health survey next year relating to a person’s mental health which would provide a useful ‘snapshot’ of issues.  This question would not be repeated every year but periodically and, although not ideal, it would enable comparisons to be made over a period of time which would provide the opportunity to identify key lines of enquiry for possible changes to services in the future.

·         Healthwatch would welcome involvement in working with the lead officer for mental health. 

·         Councillors could be involved by raising awareness of mental health issues at ward and community meetings as these were often attended by representatives of community groups and organisations.

·         It had recently been announced that the allocation of the budget for mental health services would be doubled.  In addition the Council funded other services which all contributed and impacted upon mental health.

·         The lead officer for mental health would be supported by public health staff and mental health was a priority area within the work of the public health team.

·         Counselling services were available for Council staff and other initiatives were also provided to support the wellbeing of staff in their working environment. 

The Chair in summary welcomed the report and the comments made by the Deputy City Mayor and stated that:-

·         He echoed the good work that had been undertaken by the Executive and joint working of the scrutiny commissions with responsibility for adult, children and health in relation to the CAMHS review.

·         There should be a formal ‘job description’ for the lead officer for mental health so that it provided a mandate and degree of authority for the work undertaken.

·         He was one of 17 Mental Health Champions meeting on Birmingham on 17 November to share good practice.

·         There should be regular 6 monthly updates on the Council’s progress in delivering the Local Government Mental Health Challenge.

·         It was disappointing that a seminar had been arranged by the Mental Health Partnership Board on 6 November that neither he nor the Deputy City Mayor had been invited to attend.            

·         Engagement with LGTB groups would be put onto the Commission’s work programme to improve equality issues around reviews of mental health services.

·         He was also disappointed that mental health did not form part of the NHS Five Year plan and he intended to enquire why this had been omitted.

RESOLVED:

1.         That the update report be received and the Deputy City Mayor be thanked for his contribution in discussing the progress that had been made since signing the Local Government Mental Health Pledge.

2.         That a further update reports be submitted at 6 monthly intervals.

3.         A formal ‘job description’ for the lead officer for mental health should be prepared so that it provided a mandate and degree of authority for the work undertaken.