Support for mental health services at NHS Tayside

Additional measures will be put in place to support NHS Tayside’s mental health services.

The support has been announced ahead of the publication of David Strang’s Independent Inquiry into mental health services at NHS Tayside.

The Scottish Government has already provided a package of support to NHS Tayside since Mr Strang’s initial report was published in May 2019. In the coming weeks this will increase to address service provision, clinical practice, organisational development and community led services.

Specialists from a range of mental health specialities and backgrounds will provide peer support to the health board. The Royal College of Psychiatrists will also assess the quality of clinical services and areas of improvement identified in the report. In addition Healthcare Improvement Scotland will offer specific support in addressing the quality of adult community health services.

The Scottish Government will monitor NHS Tayside’s progress through the continuation of the NHS Tayside Oversight group and will continue to seek assurance that the required improvements are being implemented, working alongside COSLA to ensure health boards, local authorities and health and social care partnerships are supported to work together across Scotland to build on the Strang report recommendations.

Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey said:

“The people of Tayside must have access to high quality, safe and effective services and have trust and confidence in the services provided. The additional support being provided to NHS Tayside will help the health board to deliver significant improvements in mental health services. This will ensure that the right advice and support in place so that people can access the services they need, when they need it.

“I am grateful to David Strang, the Chair of the Independent Inquiry, for all his work on the Independent Inquiry which will publish next week. David has also  agreed to undertake a progress update in February 2021 to ensure that the required improvements have been made. I hope that this will help restore trust in services at NHS Tayside.

“Last year, I announced that I would look to establish a national approach to the quality and safety of mental health services, ensuring that the themes and concerns identified within the Tayside Independent Inquiry are not present elsewhere in Scotland. I therefore look forward to chairing the first meeting of the new Quality & Safety Board on 19 February 2020. This will act as an appropriate platform to share the learning from of the report with other partners.”

COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson Councillor Stuart Currie said:

“COSLA will work alongside Scottish Government, NHS Boards, Local Authorities and Integration Joint Boards to allow for learning from the Strang report to be implemented across Scotland. A continued focus on working together, and collaborating not only with each other, but importantly with those who use services and their families.”

Background

The package of support will help NHS Tayside to secure:

• multi-disciplinary clinical and practice support, bringing specialists from across a range of mental health specialities and backgrounds to provide support and challenge
• communications and engagement expertise
• organisational development expertise to support culture change
• agreement with the Royal College of Psychiatrists' UK College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI) to assess the quality of clinical services and areas for improvement
• engagement with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to provide senior support and guidance and
• programme management support to enable delivery of NHS Tayside’s improvement plans

The support will help to address service provision, clinical practice, organisational development and community led services. It will also provide insight on implementation of improvements, strategy development and potential service change.

David Strang’s final report from the Independent Inquiry into mental health services at NHS Tayside is due to be published on 5 February.