North East NHS staff and Northumbria Police are holding a unique conference which will showcase how the regions services are working together for the benefit of patients.
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), a provider of mental health and disability services, along with Northumbria Police and North East Urgent Care Vanguard (a vanguard is where organisations and partnerships work together to deliver new models of care in a more integrated way) is holding a multi-agency health conference on Thursday 15 September.
Claire Andre, Clinical Police Liaison Lead at NTW said: “The conference has been designed to demonstrate to the rest of the UK the work we have undertaken and services which have been developed together with partner agencies here in the North East. By sharing good practice we hope that we can all work together to improve the experiences and services for the community who need us.”
Inspector Steve Baker, lead for Mental Health at Northumbria Police, said: “It is vitally important that we work closely with our partners to deliver the best possible service to those suffering from mental health problems in our region.
“We have introduced a street triage team made up of police officers and mental health nurses and that team ensures those in contact with Police, in crisis, see a mental health professional and are assessed or signposted to the correct pathway to meet their needs.
“This Force is committed to ensure we support people in need and are delighted that working closely with NTW has been such a success. The force is looking forward to showcasing our partnership working success and we are proud to lead by example when it comes to mental health.”
The conference, which will be held at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum will cover topics such as street triage services, but also psychiatric liaison Services in Emergency Departments, mental health professionals working in courts and custody and the work of Police liaison with clinical services.
It will also see the launch of new innovative RESPOND multi agency simulation training. A project with North East Ambulance Service, Northumbria Police, NTW, Newcastle Council and Experts by Experience from the Fulfilling Lives project.
Jim Symington, Deputy Director at the National Mental Health Development Unit will also give a national overview of agencies working together in mental health, particularly the crisis care concordat which is a national agreement between services and agencies involved in the care and support of people in crisis.
This is the first of its kind event in the North East and is aimed at national leads, crisis concordat multi agency groups and statutory and voluntary agencies from all areas of the UK.