THURSDAY,15 JANUARY, 2015

IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Your Community, Your Voice, Your Future – Improving older people’s mental health services in Northwest Perthshire

A new model of care for older people’s mental health services in North West Perthshire is set to continue after it was approved by members of Tayside NHS Board.

The board recently approved the continuation of the model after hearing about the significant improvements that have been achieved by shifting the delivery of care for older people with dementia or a mental health illness, living in North West Perthshire.

Older people in the area are at the forefront of a new way of receiving mental health services, including dementia services and support, directly in their own homes and in their neighbourhoods.

Healthcare professionals are working in partnership with patients and their families, Perth & Kinross Council colleagues and partners from the voluntary and third sectors, such as Alzheimer Scotland, to test the delivery of a more localised service for those living with dementia.

This new model now being rolled out and tested in North West Perthshire is an extension of the work of the Older People’s Community Mental Health Team which is already well established in the community.

The biggest change to the way in which the team is now delivering dementia services is that by moving away from the hospital-based model, which offered a limited service to very few individuals living with dementia in the locality, the team is now able to deliver enhanced services for many more people living with dementia and their carers in their own homes.

The team, who have been receiving positive feedback from patients and carers about the new model of care, is also supporting people to access a broader range of local community services.

Bill Nicoll, Director of Community Services for NHS Tayside, said, “This new way of working means that the team is in a position to deliver a much more tailored approach for each individual patient and their family.

“People are accessing more local community services which gives them choice about what care they receive. For those people who require an assessment of their needs, then this can be done in the family home. This means that the team member carrying out the assessment experiences a real-life situation instead of doing this in a hospital setting which may challenge the individual as they are in an environment which isn’t the norm for them.”

The communities of North West Perthshire continue to be involved in looking at and developing future models of care for older people’s mental health services. A number of community engagement events have already taken place in the area to give people the opportunity to share their needs, views and ideas, with further events also being planned.

During the recent Tayside NHS Board meeting, board members also supported the proposal to engage and consult with the local community around a range of options for the alternative use of the Atholl Unit, based within Pitlochry Community Hospital. Potential new models of care to be explored may include community diagnostics, out-patient/day case opportunities and a Community Hub for the North Locality.

The work is an example of how health and social care services are gearing up for integration.

NHS Tayside and Perth & Kinross Council will be joining up in a new way to deliver adult health and social care services in 2015. This new way of working will improve the quality and consistency of services for patients, service users, carers, families and communities and will deliver services that meet the needs of the increasing number of people with longer-term and often complex needs.

Health and social care integration will ensure that those individuals with long-term conditions and disabilities will get the joined-up and seamless support and care that they need to live safely and independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

For further information on the new model of care, please contact Maggie Rapley on 01738 562 348 or email m.rapley@nhs.net

Contact:

Debbie Huband

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740134