Agenda item

Report of Interim Strategic Director Care, Wellbeing and Learning

The OSC received a report providing a progress update on the Mental Health Review, which was the review topic of the Committee for 2014-15. The final report, which analysed the issues identified during the review and made recommendations for future action, was discussed and agreed at the committee on 21 April 2015. A six month update was given on 15 September 2015 identifying progress made against each of the six identified recommendations.

Committee were reminded that, in Gateshead, the percentages of those diagnosed with mental health conditions are higher than regional and national averages. This could be due to a number of local factors, including higher detection and diagnosis of these illnesses. However local partnership work has also suggested that austerity and welfare reform is impacting negatively on the mental health and wellbeing of affected residents.

The rates of hospital admission for self-harm and unintentional injury for both under 18’s and adults are higher than national averages. The figures point towards a very clear difference in admission rates per 100,000 population for self-harm with the North east of England recording triple the rate of admissions according to population size than London.

The recovery rate for those people being treated by the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Service is higher than the national average. The national average recovery rate is around 40% and Gateshead is regularly performing at 50% or above. The service is also above average for access rates. Figures for Quarter 4 2014/2015 show:-

·         56.2% completed treatment i.e. 880 of 1565

·         53.4% hit recovery and 52.3% hit reliable recovery

·         72.7% hit “Reliable improvement” i.e. 640 out of 880. This is those who may not have hit recovery but made significant enough progress to be classed as a reliable improvement

The Gateshead suicide rate is below the national average, but small numbers annually means that looking at the rate for a single year must be viewed with caution. A suicide audit was completed in 2015 and this will be repeated in June 2016 for the two year data 2014 & 2015.

The suicide rate as calculated by the Office of National Statistics is among the lowest in the North East region, there on average 12 deaths per annum in Gateshead. The rate does not appear to be changing significantly over time although for half year figures in 2014 there appeared to be an upward trend.

The use of anti-depressant medication is quite high in the North East in comparison to England as a whole, averaging 1.7 against an England average of 1.3 in 2014/2015. Newcastle Gateshead CCG area has the second highest spend in the North East and Cumbria area, only North Durham spending more on anti-depressants. Both these have increased since the last reporting period of 2013/2014 (PHE Community Mental Health Profiles website).

RESOLVED -             i)          that the Committee noted the progress made against                                               each recommendation as contained in the report

                                    ii)         that the work done so far be acknowledged and further                                            updates be provided to Committee in due course.