Giving advice and information to mental health professionals to support better patient care
Our Mental Health Partnerships team consists of three members of Healthwatch staff who are embedded within the Islington Community Core Teams (The Core Teams offer mental health care and support to adults in the community). Because Healthwatch staff share the same workspace, they can build strong relationships and collaborate effectively with NHS and social care colleagues who are providing care. The information we share within the core teams can have a very positive impact on care for individual patients.
Case study one
A patient had been in a state of self-neglect for many months following difficult events and a traumatic bereavement. She was staying in a hostel where she was unable to clean or wash clothes. She was struggling.
Her mental health social worker raised this at a core team meeting. The Healthwatch team member contacted a colleague at the Single Homeless Project for advice on local voluntary-sector services that might be able to help this particular patient. They suggested The Manna, a project that supported vulnerable women. We also contacted Streets Kitchen who have a women-only drop-in. Other options were also examined, such as peer mentor support through Minding the Gap.
We brought these options back to the core team, and the social worker discussed them with the patient. She was able to choose the options that best suited her, and connect with the immediate support she needed.
Case study two
A patient was experiencing a complicated range of issues including an urgent need for food. Our Mental Health Partnership Coordinator knew the key voluntary organisation to contact for food vouchers and the appropriate link worker in that locality. Following a call, the vouchers were made available, collected by a key worker, and delivered to the patient that same day.
