Crisis care

Key strategic documents including the NHS Five Year Forward View, the Better Health for London report and the Mental Health Five Year Forward View, all highlight challenges facing mental health crisis care and provide recommendations going forward to improve the current system. In response to this, our crisis care programme is working with stakeholders and partners across London’s health and social care system to improve the consistency and quality of crisis care in the capital.

Explore

Experts by experience share their stories

Resources

Better crisis care for Londoners

Right now, we are working in partnership with London’s crisis care system to improve London’s Section 136 pathway and provision at health based place of safety sites. These are places where people detained by the police under Section 135 or 136 of the Mental Health Act are initially assessed.

Our work involves bringing together service users and carers, those working in mental health, acute care settings, social care, and other key partners in the crisis care system including London’s three police forces and the London Ambulance Service.

This has led to London’s new Section 136 pathway and Health Based Place of Safety specification, launched by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Kahn, in December 2016.

The pathway and specification are aimed at all stakeholders involved in the Section 136 care pathway. Combined, they outline a consistent pathway from initial pick up by the police to the completion of the Mental Health Act assessment and a minimum standard of care for health based place of safety sites for adults and young people.

The programme is now working with London’s crisis care system to operationalise both the pathway and specification. In particular, we are looking at how London’s current health based place of safety sites can provide the 24/7 service outlined in the specification and supported by stakeholders across the system.

For more information on this work programme please contact: hlp.londoncrisiscare@nhs.net