Commissioning
'We call on the next Welsh Government to ensure parity between Physical and Mental Health Services.'
Sometimes people will need to go out of area to access a highly specialised service, we believe too often people are placed out of area for less specialised services due to a lack of a local provision, rather than a need for highly specialised services.
We would like:
In an out-of-area placement, a patient's care is delivered remotely, away from the patients ordinary locale. Out-of-area placements afford less opportunity for a graduated rehabilitation involving service from their home area. There is now clear evidence that out of area placements are detrimental to a persons recovery.*
NHS England publishes data about out-of-area publishes data about out-of-area placements regularly, but in Wales there is a lack of transparency about when and where out-of-area placements are taking place. This needs to be established before such placements can be deemed appropriate or inappropriate. This data should be routinely published, for scrutiny and to understand unmet need for patients in Wales.
*Galante, J., Humphreys, R., Molodynski, A. 2019. Out-of-area placements in acute mental health care: the outcomes. Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry 23(1).
Opportunities
The College has also identified a number of projects and ideas that we would like the Welsh Government to consider in the context of mental health, as well as including here some recommendations as to how the Welsh Government could apply them.
