South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG) has successfully secured £2.8m to support the development of its adult community mental health services.
The funding will be used to deliver improvements as part of a larger investment in community services over the next three years. In line with the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, it will see the development of new models of care across South West London, designed to support community and inpatient services work better together.
Amy Scammell, Director of Strategy and Commercial Development at the trust, said: “We have been working closely with partners across the care system to secure this funding for community services and are delighted to move forward with this exciting transformation programme.
“At its heart, this work is about breaking down barriers and working together with service users and carers, healthcare partners, and voluntary and community sector organisations, to deliver joined-up care that offers choice and flexibility for people in South West London.”
Pilot programmes will begin in Sutton later this year, whilst local design and delivery groups will commence in Kingston, Merton, Richmond, and Wandsworth over the next 18 months.
As well as addressing barriers between primary and secondary care, the programme will seek to reduce waiting times, address inequalities and support care transitions, whilst delivering a variety of new roles, including nursing associates, peer support workers and community support workers.
SWLSTG Chief Executive, Vanessa Ford said: “The past 14 months have challenged us all in so many different ways. As an anchor in our communities, we are committed to supporting our local recovery, and our community services are vital to this, so it is hugely encouraging to see this funding coming through.
“Our mission as a trust is ‘making life better together’. We aspire to be a centre of excellence, providing safe and effective care - a place service users recommend, where clinicians want to train and where our communities want to work with us. This investment is fundamental to this and will have a positive impact for people across South West London for generations to come.”
The transformation of SWLSTG’s adult community mental health services is one part of a wider ‘Integrated Programme’, delivering improvements across the trust’s estate, services and for its workforce.
This includes the development of a new mixed-used community, ‘Springfield Village’ in Wandsworth, covering a range of mental health facilities, residential housing, and a new 32-acre park. Further regeneration is also planned in the coming years at Richmond Royal and Barnes Hospital in Richmond and at Tolworth Hospital in Kingston.
Director for the trust’s Integrated Programme, Ian Garlington said: “We are thrilled to be on the verge of delivering brand new mental health facilities at Springfield Hospital in late 2022, ensuring our service users have the best environments in which to recover. Integrating these buildings into the communities we serve is at the heart of this design, helping to break the stigma and giving mental health the status it deserves.
“As we strive to make life better together, we are looking not just at the environments we provide, but also the culture of our organisation, the technologies we use in our day-to-day, and the collaborations and partnerships we build across our communities and through our community services.”
