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RMHS FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions and answers about the Regional Mental Health Service (RMHS).

Contents:

What is the Regional Mental Health Service?

Northern Ireland’s Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031 sets out a vision for mental health care. Mental health services across Northern Ireland have developed and evolved over many years. Whilst all services aim to achieve similar ends it is recognised that they tend to be organised and work differently from Health and Social Care Trust to Trust. The Regional Mental Health Service is primarily a new set of arrangements which aims to address this variation and works toward consistency in service delivery, based upon best practice in mental health care.

Why do we need to change Mental Health Services?

There are some variations across Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in how services are delivered locally. Service users, particularly when in crisis, present to different HSC Trusts’ services. If these services are not consistent it is difficult for them to work in a joined-up, co-ordinated way to manage patient care. This is an important patient concern which has led to poor outcomes for patients and their families in the past.

Will Primary Care, Community and Voluntary services also change?

Important partners who also deliver mental health care, such as GPs, Community Pharmacists (Primary Care), and Community and Voluntary organisations, may work across more than one HSC Trust mental health service so will be impacted by changes. It can be difficult for these partners to deal with differing approaches and systems. Also, with differing approaches and systems of care it is difficult to regionally monitor and assure overall service safety, performance and quality of care.

Who is involved in the Regional Mental Health Service?

The Regional Mental Health Service will involve joined up working across key partners of HSC Trust mental health services, Community and Voluntary sector providers and Primary Care services, in delivering integrated mental health care to local populations. Central to the development of the Regional Mental Health Service will be the involvement of people with lived experience of mental health services and their carers.

Is this the same as a Mental Health Trust?

No. The Regional Mental Health Service is not the same as a mental health trust.

Each partner organisation retains its own individual statutory or legal responsibility for the services it provides. This means that each Health and Social Care Trust and all of the partner organisations remain individually accountable for the mental health care they deliver to their service users.

The Regional Mental Health Service will have overall regional leadership and oversight working to ensure consistency in service development and joined up service delivery across the region.

How will the Regional Mental Health Service be led?

The Regional Mental Health Service will be led by a Collaborative Leadership Board. This Board will comprise senior, clinical and managerial leadership from the Department of Health, Primary Care, Health and Social Care Trusts, and Community and Voluntary sectors across NI. The NI Mental Health Champion and the RMHS Service User Consultant will also be members of the Collaborative Board.

Does this mean that services will be centralised?

No, mental health services will not be centralised.

When planning this new service, a clear message from service users and carers was that whilst they welcomed regional consistency and an end to postcode lotteries for services, they highly valued local service provision in their own communities.

The aim is to establish local mental health integrated care which see Primary Care, Mental Health Teams and Community and Voluntary providers in these areas coming together to agree how best to meet the needs of their local communities.

Will the Regional Mental Health Service be responsible for other actions within the strategy?

No, with the exception for the action relating to the Outcomes Framework, the other actions of the strategy will remain accountable to the Strategic Reform Board through their own specific governance arrangements.

What about service users and carers?

The Mental Health Strategy sets out a clear commitment to co-production and co- design including the voice of people who use mental health services and their carers. The regional Service User Consultant, who will be a member of the Collaborative Board of the Regional Mental Health Service, will link in with service users and carer networks across the region. The arrangements for the Regional Mental Health Service also include the establishment of a People with Lived Experience Forum supported through the Patient and Client Council.

How will local community groups be involved?

Community groups, and the important role they play in responding to local mental health needs as previously mentioned, will be involved in local mental health integrated care arrangements. These local arrangements will ensure that Community groups which provide support to people with mental health needs within local communities, have a voice and role in helping shape local mental health service delivery.

Are all Mental Health Services included?

The Regional Mental Health Service will be developed as a phased process over a number of years. A five-year implementation plan has been co-produced to help guide and shape the service.

Initially the focus of implementation is on Adult Mental Health Services. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) currently have a managed care network which is helping drive consistency and joined-up regional care for these services.

Proposals have been drawn up to establish a managed care network for Older People similar to that established for CAMHS. It is intended that as all three service areas (CAMHS, Adult and Older People) develop their networks links will be forged across all three areas ensuring an overall lifespan approach to mental health care in NI.

What about Mental Health Promotion?

Improving mental health promotion and prevention is seen as a priority within the mental health strategy. The lead agency for this work is the Public Health Agency which has a lead role in promoting mental and physical wellness and well-being in NI. This will continue to be the case.

The exception to this is what is termed as tertiary mental health promotion. This refers to interventions for individuals already known to mental health services, aimed at keeping them well through supporting them in their recovery and preventing relapse of their mental illness. Developing and ensuring local access to these types of interventions will be a key part of the remit of the Regional Mental Health Service.

 

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