Friday 17 February 2017

Seeking views on the future model for mental health services in North Powys (including the Dementia Home Treatment Team and Fan Gorau)

As you may be aware, the Fan Gorau Unit in Newtown temporarily closed to new admissions in June 2016 due to safety concerns arising from significant challenges in maintaining safe staffing 24 hours a day. At that time it had been our goal to re-open the service by December 2016 but repeated recruitment efforts were not successful and this has not proved possible.

In the meantime the staff from the unit have been redeployed as a Dementia Home Treatment Team. This has received positive feedback from service users and family/carers as well as from staff. We recognise however for those patients needing admission it has required travel to services further away, and this was particularly the case at the time of initial temporary closure for those people who were receiving inpatient care at the time.

Given the continued temporary closure we are currently undertaking a period of structured engagement to help us work with communities, staff and the Community Health Council to agree the way forward.

Through this engagement we are particularly keen to hear from:

· People who have experienced the new Dementia Home Treatment Service and their families & carers - about their experiences of the services, what worked and what could be improved

· People with dementia and their family and carers who may need to call on this type of service – about their hopes and concerns

· The wider public and stakeholders in Montgomeryshire – about their perceptions of the service, and their hopes for the future

· Partners in the planning and delivery of mental health services – about how we can continue to work together to provide the best possible safe & sustainable services for people with dementia in Montgomeryshire

The engagement period continues to 31 March 2017. During this time we will be attending a number of community events across Montgomeryshire. This will include attend existing events for carers, third sector organisations and others. In addition we are holding number of drop in sessions where members of the public and other stakeholders can meet members of the team, find out more and share their views. A flyer with dates of these events is attached, along with a document providing further information about this engagement.

More information is also available from our website at http://www.powysthb.wales.nhs.uk/news/44065

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