Addressing the underlying causes of mental health crisis is key for recovery, improving patient’s lives and reducing readmissions.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Citizens Advice Winchester District are working in partnership to offer Citizens Advice support for mental health inpatients, a project which was a finalist for this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards in the Excellence in Mental Health Care Award category.
Danny Chambers MP for Winchester went to meet the team at Melbury Lodge, a mental health inpatient unit in Winchester to see first-hand how the Citizens Advice support for mental health inpatients is supporting people during and after their stay in hospital.
The service provides each patient a Citizens Advice employed caseworker to address a range of social stressors that are likely to be impacting their mental health, such poverty, debt, insecure housing, relationship breakdown, and employment issues. The aim is to alleviate these stressors, giving them confidence and hope for the future, and preventing future readmissions.
Jon Pritchard, Associate Director of Population & Health Equity and Sue Campbell, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Winchester District spoke to Danny Chambers MP about the impact this project is having. After being rolled out to three other sites in Hampshire this year, it has now supported 286 people in the last 24 months preparing them for life in the community, free from the stressors that have been impacting their mental health. The main advice areas are around finance and housing, but the holistic service provided by Citizens Advice means they can address a wide range of issues affecting people’s lives. Danny Chambers MP then spent some time meeting with service users on the wards, talking to them about their experiences of the service and having a tour of the hospital.
(L-R) – Tracey Marshall (HIOWH Associate Director of MH for Acute & Crisis Pathway); Sue Campbell (Chief Exec, Citizens Advice Winchester District); Rosy Minster (HIOWH Matron at Melbury Lodge); Jon Pritchard (HIOWH Associate Director of Population & Health Equity); Danny Chambers MP; Ling Salter (Citizens Advice Winchester District MH Project Case Worker).
Danny Chambers MP said: “It was fascinating to meet with Jon Pritchard, Sue Campbell, and the team at Melbury Lodge. Their years of hard work and inpatient care innovations have been deeply inspiring to me. To see Melbury Lodge recognised by being a finalist for an NHS Parliamentary Award was humbling. Combining dedicated Citizens Advice support with inpatient care facilities is hugely effective and has allowed all patients of Melbury Lodge to be dutifully served, with true care and compassion. This initiative also highlights the enormous savings in costs that are available to the NHS, so long as we think dynamically. I look forward to meeting with Jon, Sue and the wider Melbury Lodge team again, to see how best I can support them in Winchester as well as Parliament. And again, I congratulate them on being a finalist for the NHS Parliamentary Award.”
Jon Pritchard, said “I was delighted to welcome Danny to come and meet the team and speak to our staff and patients about the difference this project is making. Having Citizens Advice expertise based on our mental health wards enables service users to start to address the social stressors that so often burden their life.
Delivered through trusted and positive relationships, the impact and outcomes achieved through the partnership with, and for, service users are truly phenomenal. Importantly, we have designed the solution so that the Citizens Advice service follows people from hospital into the community, providing support to give people the best health and living prospects so they can lead their healthiest and most independent lives possible. We have now expanded the solution to all four of our mental health hospitals, partly funded by a grant from Hampshire County Council”.
Sue Campbell, Citizens Advice Winchester District “I was so pleased to welcome Danny Chambers to see our service at Melbury Lodge. We’re hugely passionate about the project, our partnership working with the NHS, and the transformational impact it’s having on people’s lives. Being able to offer people access to free, non-judgemental advice to address the, often complex, issues they’re facing is so vital for recovery. We’re hugely grateful to the staff on the ground who are enabling, supporting and delivering this service, which achieves so much for people who are in urgent need of support.”