tal health services where there was an urgent request for help became clear through extensive engagement with service users, families and referrers across Sunderland, South Tyneside & Gateshead through 2010/12. This whole system engagement about transforming mental health care, led by commissioners, provided the means to develop a wide range of improvements, one of which is the Initial Response Team (IRT).
The primary aims of NTW’s Initial Response Team (IRT) were to offer an efficient and clinically effective 24/7 response, through a single point of access, to urgent telephone requests for help from people of all ages and conditions, and to offer triage & routing or signposting to appropriate services within and without NTW.
The implementation was to reduce clinician administration burden in the existing crisis response & home treatment teams, freeing time to care for service users with the greatest need, while also improving personal and clinical outcomes for people in crisis with mental ill health by reducing harm and premature mortality, improving safety and patient experience.
Service users receive a timely response to urgent requests for help and are now being seen and routed to the most appropriate service.
The IRT’s timely response (typically between 10 – 60 minutes) has reduced the number of occasions when a situation escalates to the point where a service user needs assistance from an emergency service i.e. ambulance or police.
All IRT staff were given training in the new model, including empathy and involvement training delivered by service users.
Questionnaires (developed by service users) and collected through Points of You (a service user forum) have generated very positive responses clearly showing service users feel the IRT staff are polite, show kindness and empathy, and behave in a professional manner.
Remarkably all service users were happy with the responsiveness and 100% would be happy to recommend the service to a friend.
You can find further information on services Improving Care for People in a Mental Health Crisis here and more information about the work of Positive Practice Mental Health http://positivepracticemh.com/