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At the moment, the way in which the National Health
Service works is very internal.
Doctors talk to doctors, nurses talk to nurses,
hospitals talk to GPs, GPs talk to community health.
And actually, that universe needs to be expanded to
involve the social world where people live.
We know that the 15 and 1/2 million people with long term
conditions will need all sorts of other activities, and not
just medical activities, for them to live better lives.
And so the partnership needs to be with an enormous range
of voluntary organisations, an enormous range of community
organisations and social care to ensure there's a pathway
where patients are looked after, rather than just little
bits of medical work.
Living Well Collaborative is a group of people coming
together with a common interest to try and make the
best for people living with mental illness
or distress in Lambeth.
And it started quite informally.
It's quite an organic growth.
But around the table once a fortnight at breakfast, you'll
have essentially the people who are a good enough
collection of those across the system to make a difference.
Mosaic, being an organisation that's always been
person-centered, fits just right with the collaborative,
because that's what their ethos is.
What the collaborative are trying to do is really change
the culture of the way that we provide
mental health services.
But of course, because we have all of the relevant
stakeholders in the room, we're also able to do
practical things.
We're able to develop new services and move money from
old services into new services.
And we are actually starting to do that now.
So we're starting to produce actual change on the ground in
the way that services are delivered.
Peer support is an important part of the offer from Lambeth
Collaborative.
And a particular element of that is an out of hours crisis
service, Solidarity in a Crisis, whereby people who
have a need--
there's access to a phone line.
And this is run by users and by carers, and by Certitude,
who are a voluntary sector provider who have been around
the table with the collaborative from the start.
Certitude has been around for over 15 years.
And ever since we have been working with the
collaborative, it feels that we are much more--
we are working better or in partnership with commissioners
to help redesign services for people with
mental health needs.
So this seems to be a more reciprocal relationship there
with commissioners, as well as other providers.
We're able to sit round the table with a lot of different
providers and other service users and carers, so it really
allows us to gain more insight into what's
going on in the borough.
Partnerships work where walking clubs,
knitting clubs, fishing--
all sorts of things that people are involved in--
goes on in the world out there, and the National Health
Service has a relationship with that.
It might be a contractual relationship with it where
they pay for the organisation of it and recognise that there
is health gain going on from those partners in exactly the
same way as the health gain might be going on
from taking a drug.
The Health and Wellbeing Centre has a multiplicity of
clinical services, but it also provides
social value services.
You can also, for instance, speak to a peer mentor about
your condition.
You can set goals, if you wish, with a
well-being coach as well.
And you can become part of our Time Bank, so you can feel
part of the community.
Turning Point is the lead contractor for the Earl's
Court Health and Wellbeing Centre, and we work with other
partners, so, Greenbrook Healthcare, which is a GP-led
public care provider, Terrence Higgins Trust which provides
*** health services, and NHS dentist which deliver the
dentistry services at the centre.
I think the commissioner was interested in working with a
third sector organisation as the lead contractor because we
have a reputation for innovation, we have expertise
in working with people with complex needs, we have
expertise in community engagement.
I believe the model we've commissioned here at Earl's
Court is an exemplar for how you bring better integration
between the voluntary sector, social care, and medical
centres, and provide a vibrant community centre to deprive
community all at the same time.
When health care is facing reduced expenditure,
increasing demand, we have to use what we've got better, and
all the services have got to work together better.
Because at the end of the day it's one individual, not just
isolated parts of the body.
And we need to, as commissioners, manage that in
a way that I think Earl's Court is trying to achieve.
All Together Positive formed an alliance to co-produce a
brand new service with Stockport Mind.
And the new service was to be called a mental health
prevention and personalisation service.
We're working with social groups, we're working with
Stockport Mind, and their advocacy service, and the debt
counsellors.
The status quo is clearly not sustainable without radical
change, that we know because of increased demand, increased
need, and reducing resources that if we carry on trying to
do things the way we are, this is going to break down, that
health and social care will fail in some way.
And that cannot be allowed to happen.
That we, therefore, have to be making radical transformation
if we are to continue to have meaningful offer of services
for people in need.