North Cornwall MP Scott Mann has welcomed a list of new health services and facilities for Cornwall and the South West which have been revealed by NHS England.
The headline announcement was the green light for a new 12-bed mental health facility in Bodmin for young people aged up to 18 years old.
Currently, many young people are having to travel out of county to access a mental health bed. The facility will be built near Bodmin Hospital and will cater for young people in Cornwall with mental health illnesses.
Scott Mann said:
“It’s fantastic news for Cornwall that this mental health facility for young people has been given the green light.
“Mental health provision is one of the biggest challenges facing our society. I’ve heard of upsetting cases where parents have to travel hundreds of miles to see their child who is living in a mental health unit on the other side of the county.
“Better mental health facilities are needed in Cornwall and this is a huge step in the right direction. The Government is putting more money than ever before into mental health, and I'm pleased to see this facility getting the green light in Bodmin which will hugely help our young people who suffer with mental health problems."
The new unit will be run by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on the current community hospital site, placing it alongside other mental health services. There will be beds for male and female patients.
Two-and-a-half years on since the publication of the widely-welcomed NHS Five Year Forward View, the NHS Delivery Plan sets out the changes which will take place across the health service in five key areas:
- Improved cancer care aimed at saving 5,000 lives a year through new one-stop testing centres, screening programmes and state of the art radiotherapy machines.
- Boosting mental health services by increasing beds for children and young people to cut out-of-area care, more beds for mothers and more mental health professionals in the community and hospitals to prevent crisis admissions.
- Better access to GP services with everyone benefiting from extended opening in the evenings and weekends, newly designated Urgent Treatment Centres and an enhanced 111 service to ease pressure on A&Es.
- Better care for older people by bringing together services provided by GPs, hospitals, therapists, nurses and care staff, cutting emergency admissions and time spent in hospitals.
- Driving efficiency and tackling waste to make money invested in the NHS go further in delivering the services and staff that patients want, including the latest treatments and technology.
Launching the Delivery Plan, NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens said:
“Heading into our 70th year, public support for the NHS is as strong as ever but so too are the pressures on our frontline staff.
“Today we chart a course for practical care improvements for the next few years. We do not underestimate the challenges but, get these right, and patients, staff and the tax-paying public will notice the benefits.”
As well as the new facility in Bodmin, further beds for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the South West are expected to be announced in the coming months.
In parallel, procurement is also under way for an eight-bed mother-and-baby mental health unit to serve Cornwall, Devon and South Somerset. Currently there are no beds west of Bristol.
NHS England has also offered £30m to 74 sites around the country that have made successful bids to achieve the ‘Core 24’ standard for mental health liaison, meaning a fully-staffed team operating 24/7 in a hospital, offering a one-hour response to emergency mental health referrals in A&E. In the South West, the sites are:
• Royal Devon And Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (Royal Devon and Exeter, Wonford Hospital)
• University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (Bristol Royal Infirmary)
• Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (Torbay Hospital)
• Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (Royal Cornwall Hospital)
Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said:
“We welcome this delivery plan, and will work with NHS England to ensure it is delivered successfully and engages with patients nationally and locally.
“This is essential both to ensure that the importance of change is understood by everyone, and to get input from patients about how new and re-designed services can meet their needs.
“We call on decision-makers nationally and locally to support this process, to ensure that NHS services work well for patients now and in the future.”
In addition, the Plan includes new linear accelerator machines for Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which will receive them within the next 18 months. It is estimated that these machines will each deliver an estimated 9,000 treatments per year, for an estimated 550-600 patients.
To read more about NHS England's Five Year Forward View and how it will benefit you, click here.
