Improving mental health services in West Sussex

Working with you to improve mental health services in West Sussex.

Final proposals approved

Our proposals to improve mental health inpatient services in West Sussex for adults, older people and those with dementia have now been formally approved.

These proposals were subject to a formal 12-week public consultation between July and October 2019.  Responses to the consultation were independently analysed and we used the finding to revise our original proposals so we could address the issues raised.

The revised proposals and how we arrived at our final decisions are set out in a comprehensive Decision Making Business Case (DMBC) document. This is supported by the public consultation document and the full analysis and feedback report.

The DMBC document has now been scrutinised and approved by NHS England and NHS Improvement, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Board of Directors and the West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body

As the final part of the governance and assurance process, the plans were also considered by the West Sussex Adult and Social Care Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 24 February. 

The Chairman recommended that the committee supported the proposals, in particular recognising how we responded to the issues raised during consultation and noting the development of the centre of excellence for dementia. 

However, it requested that we report back later in 2021 to assure the committee regarding services for older people with mental health needs in west of the county, measures to continue to address identified transport issues and implementation of plans. 

We will now begin implementing our proposals in two stages from Monday 1 March. The work will be completed by February 2022. A full implementation timetable is available in the DMBC document.

The DMBC document is published in the Final Proposals and Implementation section below. It is accompanied by

  • a full analysis and feedback report from the consultation
  • press release issued to local media, and 
  • a summary of our final proposals which has been sent to all those who contributed to the consultation and other interested parties.

COVID-19 delays

We apologise for the delays in announcing the results of the public consultation.

Unfortunately, this process has taken longer than anticipated because we made the decision in March 2020 to put this work on hold as health and care partners responded to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020.

Our consultation on proposals to improve the quality and safety of mental health services in West Sussex for adults, older people and those living with dementia has now closed. 

We would like to thank everyone who contributed for their valuable input to this important piece of work. Feedback from those who use our services, their carers and others interested in our work is essential to enable us to design and provide services that meet local needs. 

This feedback will now be independently analysed so we can take full account of people’s views as we develop our final proposals over the coming weeks. 

Our proposals will need approval from the following regulatory, scrutiny and governance bodies: NHS England and NHS Improvement, the West Sussex Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, the Board of Directors of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the Governing Body of the West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Dates for these meetings have yet to be finalised but we will announce them as soon as we can.

For more information about these meetings, please check out our respective websites or you contact us direct on westsussex.mh@nhs.net.

How we will use your information

This consultation is run jointly by NHS Coastal West Sussex, NHS Crawley and NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), in partnership with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT). The information you provide us with will be accessed by employees working in the Communications and Engagement teams of these four NHS organisations. 

As part of the independent analysis of the public consultation data, a market research company Public Perspectives will also access the information shared in order to analyse and evaluate the data on our behalf. If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Working with you to improve mental health services in West Sussex

These proposals have been developed by NHS Coastal and West Sussex, NHS Crawley and NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), in partnership with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT).

We want everyone across Sussex to benefit from safe, effective and high-quality mental health services whenever they need them.

This means we need to look at the standard of care we provide to those who are in our hospitals so we can understand where we can make improvements.

Like a lot of the NHS, we have buildings and accommodation which are old, of poor quality and, even if they are upgraded, will not meet the standards we expect for our patients, carers and families. This is something we need to address urgently and has been previously highlighted by the Care Quality Commission. And we are consulting on our proposed response to these specific challenges.

If people do go to hospital then we want them all to benefit from staying in safe, modern and secure environments which provide the highest quality care. The proposals we are consulting on also provide us with the opportunity to create a centre of excellence for the treatment of those living with dementia.

To make sure we are leading the way in providing mental health care and support for local people, we have developed proposals to address the challenges we have with some of our buildings in West Sussex.

We hope you will take the time to join us in this work and help us to shape the way we support people with mental health needs across our local communities.

Please read about our proposals and let us know your thoughts and suggestions. We want to get this right and we need your help to make sure we do.

The consultation on our proposals to improve mental health services in West Sussex ran for 12 weeks from Wednesday 17 July to 5pm on Friday 11 October. The survey is now closed.

You can read about our proposals in the consultation document

The document is also available in an Easy Read version

More can be found in the following documents which set out in full detail why we are putting forward these proposals:

“Our Supporting Transgender Service User Policy was ratified by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in July 2019 and provides staff with information and good practice when caring and supporting people who identify as transgender.

“We will keep this policy under review and take into account all the comments/suggestions for service improvements that are raised with us in our work generally, and specifically those that have been raised in relation to the West Sussex consultation."