The Sub-Committee received a presentation that provided an overview of the of the Mental Health Service in Tower Hamlets and a summary of the points raised is set out below:

The Sub-Committee

v  Noted that Tower Hamlets has a high level of prevalence of both common mental illness and severe mental illness

v  Noted Tower Hamlets has a disproportionately young population and high levels of mental health problems indicating future increase in need.

v  Noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant loss of life and disruption. The lockdown restrictions that were introduced whilst necessary to control the virus, have had widespread and negative economic consequences, uprooted everyday life, enforced social isolation, and exacerbated health inequalities.

v  Understood that the wider determinants of mental health have also been negatively impacted by the pandemic – employment, social contact. Likely exacerbated in LBTH due to overcrowding levels and lack of outside space.

v  Noted the Borough has well established voluntary sector services for people with mental health problems and critically in Tower Hamlets that in regard to mental health everybody has a role to play in supporting people with mental health conditions to make a difference.

v  Noted that Tower Hamlets was one of the first areas in the country to pilot mental health in school’s teams and now have two mental health in school’s teams and these are services that bring mental health professionals into schools to understand mental health conditions when they are emerging and to put the right preventative support in place at the right time.

v  Noted that there are plans to establish a third mental health and school team in 2023 and there has been a huge growth in capacity and ability to provide talking therapies for people with anxiety and depression and people can access the service through their GP.

v  Noted that over the last couple of years work has been undertaken to transform community mental health services for adults with more serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and this has been really to organize local mental health services into much more integrated teams around the Boroughs neighbourhoods.

v  Noted the community connectors employed by voluntary sector organizations that provide pathway into psychology such as the (i) Women’s Inclusive Team (WIT) is an organisation which supports disadvantaged women in Tower Hamlets and neighbouring boroughs; and (ii) Crisis Café was set up during the first wave, due to COVID and provides an alternative space for people in crisis, with access to clinicians, therapists and support staff at evenings and weekends.

v  Noted the Reinforce Appropriate, Implode Disruptive (RAID) Mental Health Liaison service is a team of health professionals who assess, treat, and manage people with mental health problems who come to the emergency department of Royal London Hospital or who are a patient on the wards (Mile End & Royal London & St Bartholomew’s Hospitals) who have a physical health problem and who may need additional support due to a mental health difficulty. The RAID team also manages the Tower Hamlets Crisis Telephone line and run a nurse led Outpatient Clinic, to follow up on patients after the A&E discharge process.

v  Noted the work on making mental health services feel accessible to people from local communities in towerhamlets and in particular people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities feel that they can trust these services, that they can access them early.

v  Noted the community connector program that links young adult service users to voluntary and community sector provision based on need and provide support with engagement, as well as linking in with further education providers and their counselling/mental health services to engage with student populations where there is unmet need.

v  Agreed when looking at the programs such as the community connector program it is important to consider and measure this social value from the perspective of those affected by the work undertaken.