I was delighted to be invited to give a presentation concerning Cheshire and Merseyside’s Complex Needs Escalation Support Framework to PMHA on the second day of their annual conference, which focussed on ‘Working Together for Children’s Mental Health’.
A multidisciplinary membership organisation concerned with parity of esteem for physical and mental health, PMHA’s mission is to champion integration of services by influencing clinical practice, policy development, education, training and continuing professional development.
In addition to sharing information and resources concerning the Complex Needs Escalation Support Tool (CNEST), Gateway and Resolution, I also talked about the evolution that took place across Cheshire and Merseyside, as professionals across health, social care and education, collectively developed our approach to multi-agency working.
The enthusiasm from the conference audience reminded me how far we have come in Cheshire and Merseyside in developing meaningful integrated care and prompted me to reflect upon the importance of evaluation and continuous improvement if person centred care is to remain the sustainable approach for addressing complex unmet needs.
The three shifts heralded by The Ten Year Health Plan for England (from hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention) are all reflected by the Complex Needs Escalation Support Framework, co-produced with Experts by Experience since its inception in 2019, putting Cheshire and Merseyside in a strong position to make the vision for the coming decade a reality for our young people with complex unmet needs.
