News & Views overview

Case study: Developing strategic plans for mental health services

SERVICE: Estates Strategy & Planning
CLIENT: Community Health Partnerships & NHS England

Challenges:

As part of the National Mental Health Service Review Programme, NHS England is developing a strategic approach to the future delivery of Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) in-patient services and facilities across Yorkshire and Humber.

In West Yorkshire, it became clear the existing new Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health pathway needed an improved estates solution and NHS England was keen to see these services provided from premises which are fit for purpose.

Community Health Partnerships (CHP) is supporting NHS England with these plans to commission a new Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Tier 4 service.

To tackle this challenge, a strategic review of existing and potential estate options for the new service was needed to identify a preferred site for the new inpatient unit of up to 38 beds in the West Yorkshire region.

Solutions:

Our team worked collaboratively with CHP and NHS England representatives, along with a wide range of public sector partners and private sector parties across West Yorkshire.

The solution included providing an independent and objective approach to the review of site options, producing a detailed report to be used in the commissioning phase for the new service.

Careful consideration was given to the site options available, comparing these sites against the criteria agreed with the customer. These sites were then shortlisted and entered into a second round of review, looking into more detail of each chosen site and looking at a series of practical issues relating to deliverability.

From this, a preferred site option was identified and recommended.

The final report was key in the procurement of the new service and is a vital piece in the jigsaw for NHS England in confirming appropriate steps to be undertaken in relation to the estate solution.

Results:

Regular updates and discussions with both CHP and NHS England took place throughout the process before the delivery of the final report.

The study and compilation of the final report was geared entirely towards meeting the customer objectives of strategic, independence and credibility, and will add significant value to the business case development and wider procurement process for the new CAMHS service.

News & Views overview