This alternative approach is called a New Care Model and enables the organisations delivering services to take a much more active role in commissioning and managing the way care is provided.
From 2021, all specialised commissioning for mental health will move to this way of working with local health trusts taking over responsibility from NHS England and Improvement. Initially local secure care; inpatient child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS Tier 4); and adult eating disorder services will all be delivered via a New Care Model.
New Care Models in other parts of the country have demonstrated benefits including people being cared for closer to home; reduced lengths of stay; more investment in early intervention; and financial efficiencies.
In order to deliver these New Care Models, provider organisations come together in an alliance which is responsible for the budget, commissioning, service redesign, quality improvement and oversight of performance.
MPFT is the lead provider for Adult Eating Disorders services and is an active partner of the Provider Collaborative Board for Adult Secure Care (led by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust) and CAMHS Tier 4 (led by Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital).
New Models of Care offer a real opportunity to look at how we can deliver services differently. Working in partnership with other organisations we can benefit from each other’s specialist knowledge and expertise and offer local people the best range of care across our region.
A clear governance structure is in place with a ‘Provider Collaborative Board’ which includes representatives at a Chief Executive level of all Trusts across the region with the purpose being to have oversight, assurance and provide the strategic direction for NCM. An Eating Disorders Board and a number of workstreams are being established to develop a clinical model to deliver improved outcomes for people with Eating Disorders with the aim of going live from April 2020.
This is a really exciting development which is enabling genuine clinical leadership and service user input into the future of specialised services. MPFT is delighted to be a key partner in these initiatives.