Funding boost for NHS mental health teams

New funding is set to benefit people with mental health problems who are staying in hospital or who visit A&E across the region.

The funding boost of £279K means our Trust will recruit new staff across our locality.

In Calderdale and Kirklees £120K of the funding will see us recruit two new therapists to support working age adults and older people with mental health problems. While in Wakefield, Dewsbury and Pontefract, £159K will fund three new senior nurses; two to support older people and one to support people suffering from substance misuse.

They will join the existing mental health liaison teams based at Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust hospitals and Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust, where they’ll provide advice and assessment for people with mental health issues.

The teams are there to reduce mental health distress as quickly as possible which hospitals might otherwise not be equipped to manage. They include staff from a variety of different professions including doctors, nurses, psychologists and mental health practitioners, and provide assessment for people who need help in A&E and for people who are inpatients in hospital.

Medical director Adrian Berry said: “Since its launch in 2014, the team has made a tremendous difference to care, ensuring people’s mental health is looked after in hospital just as well as their physical health.

“When people are in hospital their mental health can be under significant strain. We very much recognise that people are more likely to recover when their mental health is given the same attention as their physical health.”