Reach Out

REACH OUT was a wave 1 New Care Model, which, in line with the 5 Year Forward View for Mental Health, aimed to promote commissioning that was more locally focussed.  At the time that REACH OUT formally started in April 2017, we had a total of around 556 patients (adult men and women) detained in Medium and Low Secure Mental Health Hospitals, of whom 40% were in hospitals outside of the West Midlands.

By working collaboratively across the partnership, streamlining processes and care pathways and focussing on care in the community, we have managed to reduce the number of patients in hospital and significantly reduce the proportion out of area. We have been able to use the savings accrued to fund an enhanced community forensic service (FIRST Team) to help patients in the community stay in the community and to expedite discharges. We have been able to invest in new services to enhance the provision locally, including court liaison schemes and we have worked collaboratively with key stakeholders such as housing providers to ensure the needs of the local community are better met. We have attempted to redesign services in the West Midlands with a strong focus on co-production and service user engagement. We feel that this has enabled clinicians to take more positive risks, to reduce length of stays and to improve the service user experience.

The diagram summarises the Reach Out Clinical Model which, in collaboration with service users, friends and family members, delivers:

• Recovery focused care
• A focus on prevention and early intervention
• Reductions in health inequalities
• Improved access to services
• Partnership working across the region and between in-patient and community services
• Enhanced support for transitions
• A focus on reducing length of stay in inpatient services
• Training and development of our staff to support delivery of the clinical model

Reach Out has applied to be a provider collaborative and is working with NHS England to devolve commissioning functions to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as the lead provider.