In the loop January 2007

This is the first monthly bulletin being produced by the Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear project.

Just a little background

In January 2005 the Department of Health published Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health (DRE). It is a five year action plan for tackling discrimination in NHS and local authority services.

The action plan is based on three building blocks:

·  better, more responsive services

·  better engagement of services with their local communities

·  better information

The work to implement DRE is being led by 17 Focused Implementation Sites(FISs). Northumberland, Tyne and Wear FIS is one of those sites.

For further information: www.gvoc.org.uk/Health/DREMH.htm

www.dh.gov.uk/bmementalhealth

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Focused Implementation Site (FIS) Review

A national review of the project in November went very well and the feedback has been excellent. The project’s local Steering Group has agreed that the review will form part of the NTW DRE action plan. The project review will be published in the spring.

For further information:

Community Development Workers Network

Community Development Workers (CDWs) are new roles introduced by the Department of Health to help build bridges between services and communities. Primary Care Trusts have already been funded to create these posts and NTW will have its full complement of 17 by December 2007.

A network bringing together all the CDW’s has been created. Its first meeting will be on January 30th. One of the networks main tasks will be helping to ensure consistency in the roles that the workers are carrying out across the region.

For more information: Lyn

Value Added Grant

Last year the project received a one-off grant of £50,000 from the Department of Health and the National Institute for Mental Health England. In June 2006 the project’s Management Group decided to set up several groups to focus on specific areas of work in relation to DRE. The grant was divided between these delivery groups.

The delivery groups are:

Improving access to services including translation

Actions so far include:

·  Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust has completed an audit of care-co-ordination standards for BME service users

·  Feedback cards in a range of languages have been produced to help people comment on the Trust’s services

·  A range of information leaflets have been translated, including all the leaflets relating to people’s rights under the Mental Health Act

For more information:

Raising Awareness

Actions so far include:

·  Supporting and taking part in the 10th Chinese Mental Health Conference held in Newcastle in October. A conference report will be available soon

·  Developing a Message on a Mug campaign ,as part of an overall strategy for engaging and informing staff about the importance of delivering race equality in mental health

For more information:

Interpreting and Mental Health

Actions so far include:

·  survey of interpreters carried out in October and November 2006

·  Interpreters have been involved in developing a training programme, which should help to prepare them to work with different types of patients, often in difficult situations

·  Guidelines have been produced for professionals working with interpreters

·  A free interpreting service for use by voluntary organisations was advertised in November.

For more information:

DRE in rural areas

Actions so far:

·  A piece of research has been commissioned into the size and needs of the growing migrant population in Northumberland. The report is likely to be available at the beginning of February. This is being carried out by the Northumberland Multi Ethnic Group(NMEG)

For further information:

Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrants

Actions so far include:

·  Several meetings have been held to bring together mental health service providers, both voluntary and statutory, to look at the specific mental health issues for this group of clients

·  Research is being commissioned to examine the ways into mental health services and an interim report of the findings has been produced.

For further information:

Delivering Race Equality Conference: Policy, Practice and Research – February 21-22, Royal Court Hotel, Tamworth Road, Coventry

The aim of the conference is to highlight progress in Delivering Race Equality and to recognise the achievements of the 17 Focused Implementation Sites across England. It is aimed at service users, carers, practitioners. community groups, academics and other partners.

There will be a mixture of plenary sessions, workshops and exhibitions.

For more information, please contact: