Information about discontinuation of the alternative response to crisis (ARC) service

The serenity integrated mentoring (SIM) scheme in Wakefield was commissioned by NHS Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group (now known as Wakefield Health and Care Partnership) and delivered through, and coordinated by, the Wakefield Mental Health Provider Alliance.

The Wakefield Mental Health Provider Alliance is made up of health, care, voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or support mental health services in Wakefield, and our Trust (South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) is a partner within this. The local approach always differed to the national model, in that consent and listening to the feedback of people, their families, and carers was a key part of the previous SIM model in Wakefield.

A decision was made in June 2021 by the Wakefield Mental Health Provider Alliance to officially withdraw Wakefield partners from the High Intensity Network SIM scheme, and a notice was sent to the national scheme to inform them of the collective decision on 10 June 2021. From that point forward, we no longer operated a SIM service in Wakefield.

Subsequent to the step down of SIM, the Alliance has been developing with partners, including the police, a service to provide support to people who may still benefit from a multi-agency approach. This was under a service called ARC (alternative response to crisis). However, more recent discussions with Wakefield Mental Health Provider Alliance colleagues and across the Care Group have resulted in the Alliance making a decision to not proceed with the ARC service. Therefore our Trust are no longer involved in any provision of this nature.

We can give assurance that all service users will continue to receive a person-centred service in line with their current Care Programme Approach care plan, and this will involve multi-agency working with a range of partners where that’s appropriate to meet their needs.

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