What this is about
/ Hello,
We would like to tell you about our ideas for the Mental HealthServices - Promoting Independence.
This document is written by Kent County Council.
When we say ‘we’ or ‘us’ in this document we mean Kent County Council.
/ This is a consultation. We want to know what you think of our ideas.
You can do this by filling in a form on the internet.
The consultation takes place from 10 February to 22 March 2017.
/ Kent County Council supports people with mental health issues by giving a range of support.
The consultation is about 2 services.
These are the:
- Supporting Independence Service
- Housing Related Support Service
/ The supporting Independence Service:
- Supports people in their home
- Supports people to be independent
- Supports people to attend activities
- Provide support with daily living skills
- People can choose the support which is right for them.
- Is given in a specific accommodation
- Supports people to be independent
- Aims to keep people out of residential care or hospital
- Helps people who may be in residential care or hospital to live in their own home.
What could work better?
/ The services should be able to change easily.
At the moment services only change when the person has a review from their care manager.
People have told us they would like services to be able to change quicker.
Sometimes people may need more help if they are unwell or less when they are better.
This makes the services more ‘flexible’.
/ There is not enough of the right accommodation for people.
And what we have is not used properly.
Some areas have enough supported accommodation and some areas do not.
We would like to have a better spread of accommodation.
And when people use it they have the right type of support for the right time.
When people do not need so much support it would be best for them to be able to move into their own independent home.
Who we have been listening to
/ We have been talking to people who are interested in mental health services.
We have asked people what works and what does not.
We asked people in supported accommodation across Kent what they thought.
We asked people who use or had used the services what they thought as well.
We held workshops to ask people what we could do better.
People who use the services told us
/ People told us that they wanted a service that:
- Gives them have choice and control
- Treats them with dignity and respect
- Looks after their well-being and recovery
- Help them stay independent
- Gives them the right accommodation – wherever possible their own in the community
- Makes life easier for them
- Gives the right support in the right place
- Allows things to change if needed.
People who provide the service told us
/ People who provided the services told us that:
- There is much more they would like to do, to support people being well and independent
- They would like to be able to make things better
- We must trust them to do the right thing
- We need to work with them as partners
- We should look at what is best for the person not just tasks
- Getting into the right housing is difficult
- They would like to work closer together.
This is what we would like to do
/ We would like to take the money from the 2 services and use this to fund a new way of doing things.
This will look at giving people services which can change as they need it.
So more support is available when needed and less when not.
Support will be better tailored to people’s needs.
Providers of services will be responsible for setting and achieving people’s goals.
How we will check it is working
/ We will check this is done by looking at:
- The number of people supported
- How many people are supported to be independent
- The number of people whose needs decrease
- The improvement in peoples wellbeing
- How fewer people go into hospital or a care home
- How fewer people go into crisis situations
- Number of people supported into employment
- Number of people supported into permanent housing.
Let us know what you think
/ We want to know what you think of our ideas.
What you tell us will help shape the new service which starts in October 2017.
You can let us know by filling in our questionnaire on the internet at: kent.gov.uk/mentalhealthconsultation
If you need this document in another format
/ This document is available in alternative formats and can be explained in a range of languages. Email
or telephone 03000 421533 (text relay 18001 03000 421533). This service goes to an answerphone which is monitored during office hours.
Document ends
KCC Mental HealthServices - Promoting Independence Consultation – easy read1