Somerset Mental Health Trust Will Support Armed Services Personnel, England

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Anxiety / Stress;  Depression
Article Date: 19 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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NHS and MOD collaborate to provide mental health care closer to home. A Somerset mental health Trust is one of only seven organisations selected by the Ministry of Defence to support members of the armed services affected by mental ill health.

In an announcement made Kevan Jones MP, the Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, named Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as one of the organisations which is to form a partnership of psychiatric support services to armed service personnel.

The new scheme will ensure inpatient treatment can be offered closer to the patient's home or parent unit and will use facilities at each of the NHS Trusts to deliver improved coverage across the country.

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the other partner organisations were selected because they are amongst the highest performing organisations within the NHS. National inspectors, the Healthcare Commission, have rated Somerset Partnership Trust's services their highest 'Excellent' rating for the last three years. The network of mental health Trusts is lead by South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Commenting upon the Ministry of Defence's decision to include the services of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust within the new network, Chief Executive, Edward Colgan, said: "We are very pleased and proud to be able to offer our expertise and support to members of the armed services who are experiencing mental ill health by providing care closer to the homes and communities in which they and their families live".

Kevan Jones, Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, said:

"I want to make sure that when our people require inpatient care, they get the best available, close to their homes or parent unit - and that is exactly what this achieves. It matches the community-based approach we follow for our outpatients who are seen at our regional military mental health centres across the UK. It's good to be building on this partnership with today's new contract. These are both good examples of how well the military and NHS are becoming at working together."

South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare is leading a partnership of NHS trusts who have been awarded the contract to provide in-patient mental healthcare to serving personnel across the country by the Ministry of Defence.

The other six NHS trusts involved in the partnership are:

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Grampian, Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Source
Paul Courtney
NHS Communications Manager
(On behalf of Somerset partnership NHS Foundation Trust)
http://www.sompar.nhs.uk