Community mental health services provide vital support to people with mental health problems closer to their home and communities. How the services are organised at the moment is historic, and there are too many gaps.
We want to design, in partnership with people, more personalised care that is better joined up with physical health services, particularly for those with severe mental illnesses. This care would be provided closer to where people live.
A new national Community Mental Health Framework outlines how community service should be provided in the future. The framework has a number of goals for improving services:
- access to mental health services, where and when people need it
- tailored approaches to managing conditions and recovery
- breaking down barriers between mental and physical health
- integrated care – joining up services
- place-based services – services near where people call home
- more roles for voluntary and community sector organisations and social enterprises
- local collaboration – more organisations working together to improve care for the service user
