This report details changes Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) has made to improve access to community mental health services and give patients greater control over their care.
Our 2024 report Experiences of NHS Community mental health services in South and East Birmingham highlighted the challenges and barriers people face when accessing NHS community mental health services, based on feedback from nearly 100 people who had used or attempted to access these services.
We identified issues around:
- Quality of service.
- Waiting times.
- Over-reliance on prescription medication.
- Consistency of care.
- Care planning and review.
In response to what people told us, BSMHFT has now made improvements so that people with mental illnesses or concerns should be able to:
- Access services when they need and move through the system more easily.
- Get the help they need when they see someone from the community mental health team.
- Know who is responsible for their care and who to contact when experiencing a mental health crisis.
- Receive support while waiting for assessments or their first appointment.
- Have a care plan for personalised care.
The changes BSMHFT has implemented should have a positive impact on patient outcomes and increase satisfaction with community mental health services. However, the experiences we continue to hear from service users are variable indicating that these improvements will take time to embed. Healthwatch Birmingham will continue to monitor the implementation of these changes.
| Impact report: Improving NHS Community mental health services in Birmingham | Download File (pdf 1.34 MB) |