Introduction

We want to hear what you think about our proposed changes to older people’s mental health inpatient services in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

Most people diagnosed with dementia, or a functional mental health need (such as anxiety, depression or psychosis), can be cared for close to home with support from a range of community services. A smaller number of people need more specialist care and support on our older people’s mental health inpatient wards.

Our older people’s mental health inpatient services care for people who have been diagnosed with dementia, or another mental health need such as depression, anxiety or psychosis, these are often known as functional needs.

At the moment, older people with dementia who need to be admitted as an inpatient are cared for on the same ward as those with functional mental health needs. These are known as mixed needs wards.

Having separate specialist wards for people with dementia, and dedicated wards for people with functional mental health needs, is good practice and can improve both the care and experience for people, their families, carers and loved ones.

We have been working together with local health and care partners, using feedback and experiences from people who use our services, and our staff, to develop options for specialist older people’s mental health inpatient wards. We want to know what people think about these options which can be found on page 23 of this document.

Giving your views will help us make the right decision for our communities, patients, carers, families, loved ones and staff.

In 2022, 237 people over the age of 65 needed an admission to one of our older people’s inpatient mental health wards in Calderdale, Kirklees or Wakefield. Of these, 164 people were admitted with a functional mental health need, and 73 people with a diagnosis of dementia.

We will be asking you to think about the proposed changes, what’s most important to you, how the options might impact you and whether there’s anything else we should consider.

We are looking for the views of people who live in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield who may be impacted by this change, including our staff and key stakeholders. We would like to hear from:

Anyone who uses our older people’s mental health services (community and inpatient services).
Families, relatives, and carers of people who use older people’s mental health services (community and inpatient services).
Voluntary and community groups who represent, support or advocate for older people, their carers and families.
Staff who work or have an interest in older people’s mental health services, from all health and social care sectors, this may include people who work in hospitals, community services, councils and GP practices.
Key partners and stakeholders who have an interest in older people’s mental health services.
Anyone with an interest in older people’s mental health services.
People who may use our older people’s mental health services in the future.

You can read more about our consultation mandate and plan on our website: www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/opsconsultation

We will take into account the feedback we receive and carefully consider the responses which will be used to inform a decision about future services.

In this document you will find information about:

How we support our older people’s mental health patients – our current model
Why we are proposing to create separate wards – the clinical model
How we developed the proposed options
The proposed options that we are asking for people’s views on
The difference the proposed options could make
How to give your views.

You can give your feedback in a number of ways. Further information about how you can do this can be found on page 32 of this document.

We hope this document gives you the information you need to be able to give your views. More information is available on our website – www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/opsconsultation – including our business case, quality and equality impact analysis.

If you would like to get in touch with us to request any further information, please use the details on the contact us page of our website.