Local people encouraged to give their views on national health strategy

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides mental health and learning disability services to local people, is supporting the launch of a public consultation on a new national mental health strategy by encouraging local people, including those who use its services, to give their views.

The New Horizons strategy, which is currently in draft form, provides a new vision for mental health over the next 10 years. It sets out a dynamic new approach to promoting good mental health and well-being, whilst improving services for people who have mental health problems.

Public events were held earlier in the year to inform the strategy and local people are now being invited to give their views once again on what should be included in the final version, expected to be published later this year.

The consultation period will run for the next three months and will tackle a number of key themes including:

• Prevention and public mental health– recognising the need to prevent as well as treat mental health and promote mental health and well-being.
• Stigma – strengthening our focus on social inclusion and tackling stigma and discrimination wherever they occur.
• Early intervention –expanding the principle of early intervention to improve long term outcomes.
• Personalised care – ensuring care is based on individuals’ needs and wishes leading to recovery.
• Multi-agency commissioning/collaboration – working to achieve a joint approach between local authorities, the NHS and others, mirrored by cross government collaboration.
• Innovation – seeking out new and dynamic ways to achieve our objectives based on research and new technologies.
• Value for money – delivering cost-effective and innovative services in a period of recession.
• Strengthening transition – improving the often difficult transition from child and adolescent mental health services to adult services, for those with continuing needs and issues.

The Trust’s chief executive Steven Michael said, "Mental health services provide much needed care in local communities, but if services are to continue to grow and improve, it is vital that local people – the people who matter most, have their say on any decisions affecting how they develop. As we enter the next decade, services need to be personalised, allowing people who use services to make decisions about their treatment, monitor their own condition and tell the professionals what it is they want to help get their life back on track."

He continued, "We want to make sure that local mental health care meets the needs of the people we serve and are therefore very keen to see local people taking advantage of public consultations like this. New Horizons makes mental health everybody’s business and the consultation process provides a unique opportunity for people to have a voice and make a difference to mental health services. With one on four of us experiencing a mental health problem in any one year, it is definitely worth thinking about."

Local people can find out more about New Horizons, as well as how to contribute to the consultation by visiting http://www.dh.gov.uk/mentalhealth or the New Horizons consultation section of our website.