Mental Health update

The Mental Health Acute Service Acute Sustainability Response Plan contains six specific areas of focus:

• Establish a 10 bed community based acute alternative

• Housing wrap around supports

• High needs packages of care

• Increased funding to the provider arm to cover the immediate additional staffing costs whilst community based interventions are implemented (additional seven inpatient beds in the acute inpatient facility)

• Expand the Crisis and Home Based Treatment Teams

• Review and Care Planning for inpatient cohort for dischargeThis plan started in July 2019.

Numbers of admissions and current occupancy of the inpatient unit have not yet decreased or seen any significant changes to date. This is due to the ongoing demand for acute hospital admissions.

The additional seven Rapid Reintegration and Rehabilitation inpatient beds opened on 29 October 2019, with full occupancy. This will see some reductions in pressures on staff and other service users in the existing inpatient wards.

While there have been significant gains since implementation, the major impacts of the plan will not be fully realised until all the elements of the plan are completed and fully implemented. Specifically:

• The implementation of the Acute Alternative to Admission facility

• Suitable and sustainable placement options for all the inpatients identified with multiple and complex needs – these service users are likely to have long periods of inpatient stay, or frequent admissions, and require high levels of resource and support on the ward

Te Ahwi Whānau has been appointed as the preferred provider for the Acute Alternative to Admission facility. The provider is confident that seven beds will be open in December, increasing to 10 beds in March 2020.

Utilisation of dedicated packages of care for multiple and complex needs clients have seen a number of successful discharges, however, successfully discharging clients of this type is a slow process and the lack of provider resources to support people in this group presents challenges and risks. Strategy and Funding are working closely with the provider to ensure continued progress in this area.