Consultation Documents and Survey

Consultation Documents and Survey

Home » Get involved » Consultation and engagement » Consultation: Inpatient Mental Health Services (South East Staffordshire) » Consultation Documents and Survey

9 February 2023


This engagement is now closed. Thank you to everyone who took part and gave feedback.

On this page you will find the consultation document and supporting information, including case studies, to help explain the model and the work to date to develop the proposal we are consulting about.

You can access more information by clicking on the title of the document, below:

Background

We have developed a business case which details the two proposals which emerged from our involvement activity in 2019. You can read more about this on the previous involvement activity page.

Comments provided during all of the involvement activity have been used to develop the business case which details the single viable proposal to centralise inpatient mental health services at St George’s Hospital in Stafford.

You can watch a short video animation explaining the process followed to identify, develop, assess and review proposals to reach the single viable option we are consulting about now.

The work to identify the long-term solution for inpatient mental health services previously provided from the George Bryan Centre in Tamworth has included a number of involvement activities. You can read more on the dedicated page which explains about previous involvement activity.

The work to identify the long-term solution has been reviewed through a rigorous governance process by the Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB and NHS England’s Clinical Senate and its Assurance Panel.

The West Midlands Clinical Senate considered the single viable proposal during a meeting on 10 June 2022. The report of that meeting was published at the end of September 2022.

The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) met on 18 August to receive a report containing the Business Case and the recommended single viable proposal to centralise inpatient mental health beds at St George’s Hospital in Stafford. The board agreed the recommendation to progress to the next stage of the programme with the NHSE assurance step.

The NHS England Assurance meeting took place on 30 November 2022 when the business case detailing the recommended single viable proposal to centralise inpatient mental health services at St George’s Hospital in Stafford was considered. NHS England confirmed the programme had met the required tests.

Travel impacts and how we analysed them

  • What is this about?

    We are running a consultation about inpatient (hospital bed) mental health services in south east Staffordshire. It is about where we provide the inpatient services that were previously provided at the George Bryan Centre. The centre closed temporarily in 2019.

    We are recommending a proposal to keep 18 inpatient mental health beds at St George’s Hospital in Stafford.

    If the proposal goes ahead, there will not be any mental health beds at the former George Bryan Centre site.

    This would mean that some family, friends and carers would have a longer journey to visit patients who were admitted to St George’s Hospital in Stafford.

  • Why have you been looking at the effects on travel?

    We know that visits and support from family, friends and carers are very important and helpful to patients in hospital.

    We have heard from some patients and family members that they are worried about being able to visit and stay in touch if we keep the mental health beds at St George’s Hospital. For some people, travelling could take longer, be more difficult to manage, and cost more.

  • What group of people were covered by the activity and travel analysis?

    We looked at a group of adult patients from Stafford, Cannock Chase, east Staffordshire, Lichfield, south Staffordshire and Tamworth. These patients were admitted to wards at St George’s Hospital in Stafford, Harplands Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent and the Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury.

    We didn’t look at patients who went into some specialist wards like those for eating disorders. This is because patients who need care for those particular conditions would not have been admitted to the George Bryan Centre, as it was not suitable for their needs.

  • What time period did you look at?

    We looked at the two years after the George Bryan Centre’s temporary closure (March 2019 – March 2021).

  • What were you looking at?
    • How long it took to travel from the patient’s home address to the George Bryan Centre
    • How long it took to travel from the patient’s home address to the nearest mental health hospital, not counting the George Bryan Centre.
  • How did you do it?
    • We used tools like TRACC software and OS Highways integrated road networks alongside TrafficMaster [2] road speeds data
    • We calculated public transport journeys using the most recent schedules from the National Public Transport Data Repository
    • We included time for walking to, from, and in between public transport stops
    • We looked at what it was like to travel at different times of day, on weekdays and at weekends.
  • What did you find out?

    If there are no mental health beds at the George Bryan Centre site:

    Travelling by car

    • Those living in Tamworth and Lichfield will be most affected in terms of travelling if there are no mental health beds at the George Bryan Centre site
    • Some visitors from the Stafford area may have a shorter journey if the beds are kept at St George’s Hospital

    Travelling by public transport

    • Visitors from Stafford, Cannock Chase and south Staffordshire whose family member/friend would have been admitted to the George Bryan Centre benefit most if we keep the beds at St George’s Hospital
    • Visitors from Tamworth and Lichfield may spend an extra 30–45 minutes on buses or trains if there are no mental health beds at the George Bryan Centre site
    • Given current public transport routes and schedules, only people living in a small geographical area would have better public transport access for visiting if beds were available at the George Bryan Centre site. These are people living in and around Lichfield and Tamworth.

    Through carrying out this activity and travel analysis, we also found out that, when the George Bryan Centre was open:

    • only one in four of the patients from the six areas around the centre were being admitted there when they needed a mental health hospital stay
    • three in four of the patients were already being admitted to other hospitals further away – most to St George’s Hospital in Stafford.
  • What will you do to help people who might have to travel further if this proposal goes ahead?

    Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) is the organisation that operates St George’s Hospital and operated the George Bryan Centre.

    MPFT is developing a standard operating procedure (SOP) to help those affected by the temporary closure of the George Bryan Centre. The purpose is to help this group of family, friends and carers with the travel costs of visiting patients at St George’s Hospital. (The SOP is available to read on our consultation website.)

    If the proposal to keep the beds at St George’s Hospital as the long-term solution goes ahead, the SOP would stay in place for a period of time.

    Apart from help with costs, MPFT has promised to help in other ways.

    • Making visiting times at St George’s Hospital more flexible, to make visiting easier for visitors who use public transport
    • Supporting ‘virtual visiting’ – staying in touch through video calls. This includes making sure that patients and visitors have access to devices like tablets. MPFT’s website has a page with support and guidance about digital skills: mpft.nhs.uk/about-us/digital/training

    As part of the consultation, we are asking for people’s ideas and suggestions about how we can support visitors to St George’s Hospital. MPFT will look at all the ideas and suggestions and use them to help finalise the travel SOP.

     

     

     

Case studies

Found 6 Results
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Dementia: Ruby’s Story


Ruby, who is 80 and lives in Tamworth, had been having some memory problems, so her GP referred her to memory services for an assessment.   When the appointment letter arrived, Ruby’s daughter, Becky, called the…

Dementia: Ruby’s Story

Severe mental illness: Olly’s Story


Olly, aged 19, has been struggling at university. He can’t concentrate and has started to feel uncomfortable with friends and family. He spends most of his time alone in his room – going online and…

Severe mental illness:…

Severe mental illness: John’s Story


John, 52, has suffered from severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) for more than 25 years. This disorder causes him to spend hours every day washing and cleaning. This means he struggles to stay in a…

Severe mental illness:…

Dementia: Janet’s Story


Janet is 81 and lives alone in the Lichfield area. About 18 months ago, her daughter, Kate, noticed that her mum’s memory didn’t seem so good, and that she was having a lot of accidents…

Dementia: Janet’s Story

Severe mental illness: Gemma’s Story


Gemma is 24. She has a diagnosis of depression and anorexia. She experiences overwhelming emotions and mood swings. She sometimes self-harms and does unsafe things like binge drinking.   Gemma suffered childhood sexual abuse and she…

Severe mental illness:…

Dementia: Esther’s Story


Esther, aged 79, lives in an assisted living complex in the Lichfield area. She was diagnosed with dementia some time ago. As part of her care plan, MPFT’s Dementia Review team meet Esther each year…

Dementia: Esther’s Story
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