Lewisham Council Mental health funding Question and answer

Question

Q

Time

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

                                                                                         PUBLIC QUESTION NO.29 

                                                                                          Priority 2

LONDON BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM

COUNCIL MEETING

24 JUNE 2015

Question asked by:   Mr Woolford; Lewisham People Before Profit

Member to reply:       Councillor Best

Question

Lewisham borough has amongst the highest number of residents coping with Mental health, and yet has seen a 68% cut in funding. With 1 in 4 people set to face mental health and increasing number seeking Lewisham councils help, what measures are Lewisham council taking to secure long term funding from EU , Foundations  etc to be able to continue and cope with rising demand?

Reply

Lewisham Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) work together to support the joint planning and development of mental health services.  This joint arrangement is based on the long standing principle that support for mental health service users requires collaborative working between health and social care services.  Following long standing joint arrangements spanning several years, from April 2013 the Council and newly formed CCG agreed that the Council will lead the commissioning of mental health services on behalf of both organisations.  Local Mental Health service funding is regarded as a total investment of £70.38m and has in fact received an increase in Health funding of 3.97% which is £2.405m in the 2015/16 financial year. However, social care funding for mental health in line with other local authority spending has been reduced in 2015/16 by 3.2% (£250,000) which is significantly less than other service areas and the 68% mentioned in the question above.  

Lewisham Council and the CCG recognise and have assessed the local level of need for mental health via the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.  Mental health and wellbeing is a priority within the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and we will continue to focus on improving awareness, service user experience and general wellbeing  of the local population.

Lewisham Council and the CCG support applications for additional investment to the borough from all sources.  Officers have attended briefing sessions for London’s European Social Fund Mental Health Employment Support Programme for people with common mental illness aimed at the independent sector. Officers have committed to support the roll out of this initiative, ensuring that the successful applicant for this fund in Lewisham works collaboratively with our existing community based mental health services.

The Council and other relevant stakeholders will review a range of information, data and service user feedback to understand the current and future demand for services annually.  This process is used to establish local investment priorities and the final amount of funding for all contracts.  We continue to see an annual rise in the use of mental health services and we will ensure that we prioritise the right services to achieve the best value for money we can for our patients, residents and overall population.