Mental Health - Emergency Bed Space

Tender description

Cheshire East’s Housing Options Team and local mental health hospital units and services have experienced problems in placing homeless persons with mental health problems when leaving mental health hospitals or units. Some discharges have been last minute and Housing Options have been notified very late in the day. This has raised issues, in terms of patient welfare and safeguarding, and needing to place people into emergency accommodation which often is unsatisfactory. Cheshire East wants to prevent homelessness, and reduce the rate of re-admission to hospital. A mental health and housing protocol has recently been produced which should result in a reduction in the number of unplanned discharges from mental health units and services. Cheshire East has recruited 2 link workers (1 covering Macclesfield / North of Cheshire East and 1 covering Crewe / South of Cheshire East) to work with vulnerable adults with mental health issues (who don’t, or no longer, reach the threshold for acute services) who are homeless when discharged. Bed spaces will be commissioned from local services to provide emergency accommodation to provide stability and time for a suitable housing solution to be devised with a continuity of care in place for each person. To this end, 4 units of appropriate accommodation are sought, 2 in the North of Cheshire East and 2 in the South of Cheshire East. Service-users may have a need or a preference for a particular area, especially if requiring support. The combination of the link workers and specialist emergency accommodation marks a new housing related support option in Cheshire East and will ensure services are flexible, providing a more personalised response to need, reducing dependency, avoiding duplication with other services, and meeting the priority of reducing re-admissions to hospital and return to homelessness services. The aim is to close this revolving door. Keywords: mental health, bed space, accommodation