Celebrating better care in the community for people in South West London
Partners across South West London recently came together to celebrate the successful transformation of adult community mental health services.
NHS staff, carers, patients and stakeholders took part in a special event in June to mark the transformation, a key part of the Trust’s Better Care programme.
This three-year 'Community Transformation programme' has seen large-scale collaborations with patients, carers, GP mental health leads, voluntary and community sector partners, and colleagues from across community mental health services in Sutton, Merton, Kingston, Richmond and Wandsworth.
As a result, our community mental health teams have become new ‘Integrated Care Hubs’ to help people get better access to social, wellbeing and mental health support involving:
- Tailored mental health care and treatment, w hich is more recovery-focused and with an emphasis on evidence-based therapy
- Working with 22 different organisations across the five boroughs, such as Citizen’s Advice and Mind providing peer support, and advice about housing, employment, finances and social welfare
- Ensuring our GP partners can get specialist advice and guidance on care and treatment for service users.
Sutton led the way, launching the new hub in early 2022, with Kingston and Richmond following in 2023 and Wandsworth and Merton in 2024.
This means easier access to a wider range of support in places that are more convenient like GP surgeries, more people staying well for longer and fewer people experiencing a mental health crisis. All together this aims to deliver better care and a better experience for patients and carers across our communities.
More than 11,000 people have accessed the new hubs in the last 12 months, with more than 1,600 people accessing peer support and welfare advice services.
Dr Victoria Hill, Clinical Director for Community Services said:
“Our aim is to ensure our patients are able to live well in the community, receiving the right care at the right time in the right place.
“At the heart of this work has been co-production with those with lived experience of mental health, ensuring that everyone involved works together to create more joined-up care. “I am so proud of what we have achieved and the difference it is making to our South West London community.”
The Trust is now continuing to look at how to improve the mental health care of our South West London community in all services across community and acute and urgent care, as well as for older people and children.
Watch our animation to learn more about the support available in South West London. Find out more about the Better Care programme
