A key priority for the NHS in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is ensuring that communities have equal access to services and have the opportunity to achieve the same outcomes. We know that over the coming years the demand for community and mental health services will increase. Our physical and mental health services are already responding to increasing need, both in terms of the number being referred and the complexity of issues they present with. Against this backdrop, continuing to improve and transform service provision, as well as having an even greater focus on integration between mental and physical health, is vitally important.
In January 2022, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System commissioned an independent review of community and mental health services. The purpose of the review was to understand how to best meet the current and future demands of our local populations. The review looked carefully at the evidence and involved a range of clinicians, partners and stakeholders, as well as existing insight and feedback from people who use local community and mental health services.
The review resulted in five key recommendations which are being taken forward in a joint programme of work.
One of the review’s key recommendations is that a new organisation be formed, to bring together all NHS community and mental health services provided in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, including services provided by Solent NHS Trust, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, that delivers Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Hampshire.
The review makes the case that bringing together our services in this way would improve consistency of care between these services and organisations which are currently responsible for different parts of the care pathway. It would also improve equity of access to care. We believe that working even more closely together is the right approach for the benefit of our patients, their families and communities. The rationale for the recommendation is aligned with, and builds upon, the steps we have already taken to work more closely together. And, it will further enable our staff to work together to best meet the needs of the people they support.
Work on the project, now referred to as 'Project Fusion', is well under way.