# data[].attributes.body
Triangle of care update - spring

# data[].attributes.body
A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a family member of friend who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, cannot cope without their support even if you don't live with them.

# data[].attributes.body
The Triangle of Care (ToC) was launched in 2010 by the Carers Trust, developed by family and friend carers of those who had received support from mental health and dementia services. Members of the Triangle of Care network include Network Partners of the Carers Trust across the UK. The Triangle of Care is a working collaboration that includes family and friend carers working with health professionals to improve the care provided. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) attained membership of the Triangle of Care network in 2017 joining over 30 other mental health providers in the country, showing their commitment to improving relationships with family and friend carers. We are proud to have the Carers Centre (Brighton & Hove), Care for the Carers (East Sussex) and Carers Support (West Sussex) as our strategic partners for implementing the Triangle of Care.

The network is a UK-wide network of quality assured independent partners, such as Carers Centre (Brighton & Hove), Care for the Carers (East Sussex) and Carers Support (West Sussex) who are authorised to provide grants to help carers get the extra help they need to live their own lives. The locally based Network Partners can support family and friend carers in their homes through the provision of replacement care, and in the community with information, advice, emotional support, hands on practical help and access to much needed breaks.

Made up of six key standards, Triangle of Care focuses on keeping family and friend carers included, informed and supported when they are caring for an individual with mental health difficulties.

# data[].attributes.headline
The six principles of the Triangle of Care

# data[].attributes.subject
The six principles of the Triangle of Care

# data[].attributes.headline
The Triangle of Care:  Carers Included.  A Guide to Best Practice in Mental Health Care.  An Introduction for Carers, family and friends.

# data[].attributes.subject
The Triangle of Care:  Carers Included.  A Guide to Best Practice in Mental Health Care.  An Introduction for Carers, family and friends.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
An introduction for carers, family and friends

# data[].attributes.headline
Transformation of Community Mental Health Services

# data[].attributes.subject
Transformation of Community Mental Health Services

# data[].attributes.body
In response to the NHS England Long-Term Plan, which tasked health and social care to develop new, more joined-up, ways of delivering care in the community for people with severe mental illness, the community transformation will bring local services in Sussex together, including mental health, partners from social care, primary care, local authority, and voluntary community and social enterprise services (VCSE)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content Skip to accessibility tools

In response to the NHS England Long-Term Plan, which tasked health and social care to develop new, more joined-up, ways of delivering care in the community for people with severe mental illnesses, the community transformation will bring local services in Sussex together, including mental health, partners from social care, primary care, local authority, and voluntary community and social enterprise services (VCSE).

The new services will be designed around the needs of the local community and developed in collaboration with the people who will use and work in them.

Patient outcomes and experience will improve; patients will be in charge of their own care and will be offered a personalised package of support based on what they need at that time, which could include for example, psychological therapies, physical health checks, peer support, social activities, or support for employment, housing, or finance. By services working together as one multidisciplinary team, communication and information sharing will progress, duplication of assessments and other processes will be minimised, and the resources available in services will be utilised more effectively.

Staff satisfaction and retention will increase; staff will be empowered to work with more autonomy, will have access to additional resources, a more manageable workload, as well as clear opportunities for training and development.

There will be efficiencies and collaborative working across the system; patients will be treated in the right place at the right time, people will be supported to stay well in their own homes, and pressure and reliance on crisis and acute services will be reduced. Primary care, secondary care, VCSE and social care will come together to provide holistic care.

Adults and older adults

Community mental health services for adults and older adults with severe mental illness will be transformed; designed around the needs of the local community and developed in collaboration with the people who will use and work in them.

Care will no longer be disconnected between different organisations and services; patients will be treated to meet their care needs as a whole. This joined-up support will help them to recover and improve their overall quality of life.

Patients will be in charge of their own care and will be offered a package of support based on what they need at that time, which could include psychological therapies, loneliness services, or support for employment, housing, or debt.

The offer of what is available will be clear, and support will be easy to access and delivered in a range of welcoming, convenient and therapeutic environments that are as close to home as possible, to ensure everyone has access to the mental health services and support that they need when they need it.

The transformation will also give a renewed focus to people who are living with a range of long-term severe mental illnesses, and will address the current gaps in services for people who are deemed too unwell for support through their GP, but not unwell enough to meet the criteria for specialist mental health services.

Place based workshops

Two workshops took place with invited guests from the local health and care sectors in Crawley and Brighton & Hove. Building on the priorities identified in the system model workshops in August, the groups worked together to agree what the local areas could start to do to transform their local community mental health services.

System model workshops

People from across the health and care system, including senior leads from across the primary, statutory and VCSE health and care system, people with lived experience and experts by experience of accessing mental health services, and carers, attended workshops at University of Sussex in August, to establish what needs to happen for community mental health services to be transformed, future models, improved ways of working together and local priorities. The workshops were a significant milestone in the programme so far, which initiated a collaboration of people who will use and work in the services.

Launch of wave 1 integration sites

Wave 1 integration sites will go live in October 2022. This will be the first-time services have worked together in this new way and the first step towards transformed services.

The sites will be located in Crawley (West Sussex), High Weald, Lewes and Havens (East Sussex) and Brighton & Hove.

The feedback and learnings from the integration sites will be crucial in informing the next steps in the transformation programme.

Emotional Wellbeing Services (EWS)

Emotional Wellbeing Services are to be expanded to further primary care networks (PCN's) across Sussex. The service provides mental health support in GP surgeries for patients with complex mental health issues who would not usually be able to access Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, or meet the criteria for referral to specialist mental health services.

The number of clinical and non-clinical Mental Health Practitioners in Emotional Wellbeing Services will have doubled by April 2023.

Enhanced community rehabilitation

The Enhanced Community Rehabilitation Service will provide intensive community treatment and will have the ability to intervene earlier than current Assessment and Treatment Services. For example, they would be able to monitor adherence and work more intensively with housing providers to maintain tenancies.

The Enhanced Community Rehabilitation Service will work closely with community inpatient rehabilitation services to reduce length of stay and improve patient outcomes in the community regarding recovery, and social and occupational functioning.

Offering an alternative pathway to this cohort of complex high-need service users will also reduce demand on Assessment and Treatment Services, allowing them to focus on and be more responsive to other high need service user groups.

Eating disorders

The transformation will develop an all-age service for eating disorders, increasing capacity, shortening waiting times for support, and removing the barriers that are currently in place to access services.

Complex emotional needs (CEN)

The community transformation will give a renewed focus to people living with a range of long-term severe mental illnesses, including complex emotional needs associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder.

Get involved

Want to get involved in the community transformation, share your views and ideas, and be part of this exciting transformation?

Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter: click here

Workshops, webinars and events

Wednesday 18 January 2023

12-12.45pm

Monthly webinar - topic: progress so far, and next steps for 2023

Virtual

Wednesday 15 February 2023

12-12.45pm

Monthly webinar - topic: Working in collaboration with people with lived experience, peers and carers

Virtual

Wednesday 15 March 2023 - 12pm

12-12.45pm

Monthly webinar - topic: The role of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) in the community mental health transformation

Virtual

Co-production

Within the transformation programme there are two co-production leads, who help bring people together and support them to be able to contribute and make a difference to mental health care services. There is also the SCALE Network, which stands for Sussex Coproduction And Lived/Living Experience.

Get in touch with them to find out more about how you can get involved.

Natasha Barefield (East Sussex and Brighton & Hove): natasha@possabilitypeople.org.uk

Catherine McGill (West Sussex): catherine.mcgill@capitalproject.org

VCSE Mental Health Networks

If you are a voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation working in mental health, you may be interested in joining the network for your area, to help influence and shape the future provision of community mental health.

West Sussex: vcsementalhealthnetwork@westsussexmind.org

Brighton & Hove / East Sussex: andrea.potter@vcse-mhtransformation.org

What's happened so far?

There have been lots of developments and activity happening across Sussex. See the full list below:

December 2022

Monthly newsletter

The December edition of the community mental health transformation newsletter - download

December 2022

Monthly webinar

Jenny Edge, General Manager for Emotional Wellbeing Service (EWS), and Anne Foster, Head of Mental Health Commissioning, provide an update on the development of the EWS and the next steps - watch webinar

November 2022

Monthly newsletter

The November edition of the community mental health transformation newsletter - download

November 2022

Monthly webinar

Rachel Coffey, Programme Director, and Penny Fenton, Community Pathway Lead, provide a background about the transformation of community mental health services for adults and older adults in Sussex - watch webinar

November 2022

Place based workshops

Virtual and in-person workshops took place in East Sussex, with invited guests from the local health and care sectors. Building on the priorities identified in the system model workshops in August, the groups worked together to agree what the local area could start to do to transform their local community mental health services.

October 2022

Place based workshops

Two workshops took place with invited guests from the local health and care sectors in Crawley and Brighton & Hove. Building on the priorities identified in the system model workshops in August, the groups worked together to agree what the local areas could start to do to transform their local community mental health services.

September 2022

Partnership Matters article

The community transformation was featured in Sussex Partnership's magazine, Partnership Matters. Read the full article on page 22 here.

August 2022

System model workshops

People from across the health and care system, including senior leads from across the primary, statutory and VCSE health and care system, people with lived experience and experts by experience of accessing mental health services, and carers, attended workshops at University of Sussex in August, to establish what needs to happen for community mental health services to be transformed, future models, improved ways of working together and local priorities. The workshops were a significant milestone in the programme so far, which initiated a collaboration of people who will use and work in the services.

Return to header

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Transformation of Community Mental Health Services

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Skip to main content Skip to accessibility tools In response to the NHS England Long-Term Plan, which tasked health and social care to develop new, more joined-up, ways of delivering care in the community for people with severe mental illnesses, the community transformation will bring local services in Sussex together, including mental health, partners from social care, primary care, local authority, and voluntary community and social enterprise services (VCSE).

# data[].attributes.body
There are lots of ways that you can get involved at Sussex Partnership.

Our Experts by Experience (EBE's) are valuable members of our team.  They are people who have either used mental health services themselves or who have experience of caring for someone who has.

More formally, our governors play a crucial role in the running of our services. Our governors are made up of service users, carers, staff, members of the public and partner organisations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find out how you can get involved at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust whether through sharing your experience, providing valuable feedback or volunteering within our services.

# data[].attributes.body
Page 1 Triangle of Care

# data[].attributes.body
Page 2 Information resources for family & friend carers

# data[].attributes.body
This Padlet has been designed as an information resource for family & friend carers to support them in their caring role. Scroll from side to side to see more headings. Using the slider on the right scroll to see more resources

# data[].attributes.body
triangle of care update - dec23

# data[].attributes.headline
Flexible working policy and support for staff carers 

# data[].attributes.subject
Flexible working policy and support for staff carers 