Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Committee received a report and two presentations from Gail Kay, Project Director/Mental Health Programme Lead, NE & N Cumbria ICS and Iain Miller, Public Health on the range of work that is being undertaken in relation to Suicide Prevention in Gateshead at:

 

·         Regional level, through the Integrated Care System (ICS) Every Life Matters sub group, part of the Mental Health sub group of the prevention workstream

·         Sub Regionally at the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) level, with the Northumberland and Tyne & Wear Suicide Prevention Steering Group work, developed with NHS England modernisation funding during 2019.

·         Locally through the work of Gateshead Mental Health and Wellbeing Partnership

 

Action on Suicide Prevention at three levels

 

ICS Level Intervention

 

The Committee were advised that organisations across the North East and the North Cumbria (NENC) are working in partnership to coordinate improvements, where necessary, across traditional boundaries. Developing and integrating care across boundaries involves NHS organisations working with Councils and the voluntary or charity sector and engaging with the people using services, “people with lived experience”.

 

An ICS is not a specific organisation but rather a way of leading and planning care for a defined population in a coordinated was across a range of organisations.

 

A Mental Health ICS Programme was established with seven priority workstreams, one of those being Suicide Prevention. The mental health work stream does not have a surveillance or performance monitoring role and does not have a statutory authority, this remains with provider organisations and commissioners.

 

The North East and North Cumbria ICS “Every Life Matters” Suicide Prevention Steering Group oversees the Suicide Prevention work and has Senior Leaders from health across the Region overseeing the programme of work, with a project lead coordinating the implementation of Every Life Matters delivery plan.

 

The Committee were advised that this work is fully linked in to national activity, including national workshops led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a visit from the national enquiry team. The focus of the work is to:

·         Ensuring that best practice and learning is shared across agencies

·         Duplication is lessened

·         Resources are shared to improve efficiency and effectiveness

·         Impact is monitored

 

The “Every Life Matters” Suicide Prevention delivery plan is divided into five key areas of activity:

·         Leadership

·         Prevention

·         Intervention

·         Postvention

·         Intelligence

 

Expected outcomes:

·         To reduce the number of suicides, including high risk groups, and by a minimum of 10% by 2021 in all areas across the ICS

·         To reduce the incidence of self-harm and repeated self-harm

·         To reduce the impact and suicide

·         To reduce the stigma of self-harm and suicide

 

National funding has been allocated to support the implementation process with Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, led by Gateshead and Newcastle Public Mental Health leads, successful with Wave 2 funding.

 

Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Level

 

The Committee were advised that funding (identified above) has led to a full programme of work at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear level which benefits Gateshead residents as identified below.

 

Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, led by Gateshead and Newcastle Councils, have been successful in securing wave 2 NHS England Modernisation Funding for the value of £450K to take forward a prevention programme across the sub regional (Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) level. A North ICP Suicide Prevention Steering group has been established and an Action Plan is in place to take forward workstreams. Wave 3 funding will be available from April 2020.

 

A Suicide Coordinator has been recruited, starting in post with Northumbria Police on 7 October 2019. The post will oversee the delivery of the Transformation Funding Action Plan and identify other area for development around Suicide Prevention at the ICP geography.

 

A Data Analyst was recruited on 8 November 2019 by Newcastle City Council. The post will be managed by the Suicide Prevention Coordinator on a day to day basis and will enable Suicide data to be analysed across the Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Geography covered by Northumbria Police and NTW Mental Health Acute NHS Trust.

 

Discussions have been held around the process for an Early Alert system so that data on cases can be gathered at the point of the incident, rather than waiting over a year until an audit of the Coroners files produces an overview of the profile. The model being adopted is very similar to the Drug Related Deaths (DRD) process already in place in Gateshead.

 

Postvention support offer will be a Police led process through the completion of the  CID27 form and then establishing the needs of the families and friends at the point of the First Response. Training will be facilitated by the Suicide Prevention Coordinator who will work with If U Can Share and the Police to establish training programme for First Responders.

 

South Tyneside Public Health Team has led the development work for the tendering for leads for the delivery of a Training Hub and Level 1, 2 & 3 programmes on Suicide Prevention across Northumberland and Tyne & Wear. The Tender document has been completed and is currently out to tender. We aim to have programmes of training being delivered by January 2020.

 

Newcastle United and Sunderland Football Foundations are being commissioned for the development of a joint programme and campaign targeting Men on work around Suicide Prevention through a ‘Be a Game Changer’ campaign. This will be branded with both Football Foundations team colours.

 

The Suicide Prevention Coordinator is leading on the process of delivery of small grants funding in partnership with North Cumbria NHS Acute Trust, the lead organisation for the ICS Suicide Prevention programme which this work sits under.

 

Work around Self-Harm is progressing after initial ideas tabled art Steering Group, around a Safety Planning Train the Trainer proposal, were deemed to be inappropriate and that the funding should be used to add value.

 

Gateshead Level Interventions

 

The Committee were advised that the focus of Gateshead’s local Suicide Prevention work is through the Gateshead Mental Health and Wellbeing Partnership. This partnership is led by Cabinet member, Cllr Mary Foy.

 

At a Population level there is a focus on encouraging organisational sign up to Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign, and focussed work into local communities with The Five Ways to Wellbeing. There is support of World Mental Health Day each October with a strong presence from Statutory and Voluntary Community Sector organisations supporting people with Mental Health related issues and the partnership use of Public Health England’s (PHE’s) Every Mind Matters campaign for a consistent partnership level focus.

 

The Partnership has developed a local Suicide Prevention Acton Plan which forms part of the Gateshead Public Mental Health strategy. This includes a focus on development of Community based suicide prevention interventions on Males

40 - 55 years.

 

Gateshead Council has signed the Time to Change pledge and has made a commitment to change how we think and act about mental health in the workplace. An action plan is in place with all actions developed to tackle stigma and improve people’s mental health and wellbeing.

 

The Council holds the Continuing Excellence level of the Regional Better Health at Work Award which, among the key criteria for award holders, focuses on improving the mental health if the workforce.

 

The Committee were advised of the positive impact that Partnership working at a range of levels has in the delivery of preventative work into Gateshead.

 

The Committee were advised of the downward trend, outlined in the Evidence Gathering Paper 2 tabled with Gateshead Care Health and Wellbeing OSC on 29 October 2019, identified in recent PHE Fingertips data.

 

The Committee were reminded that the last evidence gathering sessions on 28 January 2020 will hear from representatives from the Criminal Justice system and Voluntary Community Sector (VCS), identifying high risk groups and what can be done to minimise risk.

 

RESOLVED -	i)	That the information be noted
	ii)	That a further update on the Criminal Justice system and Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) be brought to the next meeting of the Committee on 28 January 2020.