Staff at The Portsmouth Mental Health Hub took a moment today to pause with tea and cake to celebrate the hub’s two-year anniversary.
Since its launch in April 2023 under Health and Care Portsmouth, the hub has helped more than 7,000 people aged 16 and over across the city and local neighbourhoods access mental health support and information in a variety of ways.
The hub started out as a phoneline, seeing fully trained call handlers listening so that they can either arrange for people to have an appointment with services such as Talking Therapies or PositiveMinds, or compassionately offer connecting people with local organisations including HIVE Portsmouth, social support or substance misuse organisations.
The dedicated website followed in December 2023, enabling and empowering people to access the information and resource webpages available. Visitors to the site can read about local services, see interviews with people who have experienced mental health, meet the Hub team, find out more about the emotions and feelings we all experience, and crucially, where to get support and advice.
Another incredible and unique aspect of the hub is the rollout of enhanced mental health access facilitators. Working within local primary care networks, the facilitators work closely with staff at GP practices, providing compassionate and personalised advice, guidance and support to patients, and connect people with relevant support available across Portsmouth.
Last autumn, the hub carried out a live chat pilot on the mentalhealthinportsmouth website. Live chat importantly offers a mental health support route to younger residents of Portsmouth, those who find it difficult to use the phone due to anxiety or other feelings, or those in the community who are hearing impaired or deaf. The pilot ran from October 2024 until February 2025, seeing over 300 live web chats take place. It is now planned to make the live chat a long-term offer to local residents.
Feedback from hub users includes:
- “It’s nice to know there are friendly voices and somewhere to turn to.”
- “It's so good to have a number to call just for some advice if you're not sure on where to start.”
- “I’m really happy that I called and was able to explain what I have been going through; I feel like my day has not been wasted. “
Head of Access for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, one of Health and Care Portsmouth’s long-term partners, Abi Clarkson, said: “The first two years of the hub have gone incredibly quickly but the passion and dedication of the hub team has shone through the entire time. Every person who has contacted the hub has known that they are not alone, they are listened to, and their mental health needs are addressed in compassionate and meaningful ways. A huge thank you to the hub’s partners and wider organisations locally who play vital roles in ensuring that residents’ mental health and wellbeing is as good as possible.”
Councillor Winnington, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Health and Care at Portsmouth City Council, said: "The Hub is a fantastic example of how working together across organisations and in partnership with our residents to design a service can really benefit the people of Portsmouth.
“We know more mental health support is needed in our city, so to see the Hub going from strength to strength in the past two years is testament to the hard work and efforts of everyone involved. We want people to know that support is always available - you are not alone."
Most recently, the hub has embarked on a three-month pilot project with The Drayton Surgery – seeing when patients call the surgery, they will have a new phone option to access mental health support and will be transferred directly to the team at the Portsmouth Mental Health Hub.
Anyone aged 16+ can contact the Hub (Monday to Friday 8am- 6pm) by calling 0300 123 6621 or use the online chat service, (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm).
Visit www.mentalhealthinportsmouth.co.uk/contact
The Portsmouth Mental Health Hub can help anyone aged 16+ living in or registered with a GP surgery in Portsmouth (PO1-PO6). If you are registered with a Portsmouth GP surgery but live outside of the catchment area, the Hub can still support you but connection with services in the city may vary.