Mental Health Commissioning Useful Links

Directory of useful links for mental health commissioning

This document has been compiled to provide mental health commissioners in London with a comprehensive and fast index of information that is relevant to mental health commissioning.

It is a working document and therefore we aim to update it regularly. If you know of an important publication or website that you think would be useful to include, please email marco.carrera@csl.nhs.uk.

Commissioning Guidance

Publication: The Commissioning Friend for Mental Health Services (CSL December 2009)

An updated guide to assist in commissioning mental health services by providing a framework to navigate the complex landscape as well as updates on the latest policy and guidance.

Advocacy

Guidance: IMHA Guidance for Commissioners (NIMHE, December 2008)

The guide outlines the statutory IMHA role, discusses good practice for IMHA services and outlines the commissioning process required to ensure high quality IMHA services are provided

Carers

NEW Publication: Commissioning for Carers (Joint Publication, September 2009)

Eight key health and social care organisations have developed this best practice guidance.
Local commissioners may wish to use this when making commissioning decisions that could affect carers, including services for the people who carers look after.

Children and Young People

Publication: Briefing for Commissioner’s on providing Age Appropriate Services (NIMHE, January 2009)

A briefing to highlight how commissioners can work together to meet the Age Appropriate Duty from April 2010.

NEW Guidance: Improving the Psychological Wellbeing and Mental Health of Children and Young People:Commissioning Early Intervention Support Services (Department of Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health January 2010)

Pulls together good practice and provides guidelines for local authorities, PCTs, government offices and SHAs to support the delivery of quality advice, support and guidance for joint commissioning of early intervention support.

Dementia

Guidance: Joint Commissioning Framework for Dementia (Department of Health, June 2009).

The National Dementia Strategy joint commissioning framework provides best practice guidance for commissioning dementia services.
It includes a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment template, summary of NICE and SCIE evidence for dementia services, commissioning levers against each of the strategy's objectives and a summary of South East Coastal SHA dementia metrics.

Personality Disorder

Guidance: Recognising complexity: Commissioner’s Guidance for Personality Disorder Services (Department of Health, June 2009)

Recognising Complexity provides guidance for commissioners by reviewing what we know about personality disorder, government policy, clinical approaches and learning from the pilots, and by setting out a series of recommendations

Long Term Conditions

NEW Publication: Improving the Health and Wellbeing of People with Long Term Conditions: World Class Services for People with Long Term Conditions – Information Tool for Commissioners (Department of Health January 2010)

Shares a common vision of what a good service for people with Long term conditions (LTCs), and to provide some practical suggestions for commissioners to help them achieve that vision.
Sets out some appropriate actions for commissioners to consider at each stage of the commissioning cycle, to support implementation of personalised care planning and self care support for people with LTCs.
Identifies and sets out in Annex A A number of ‘roadblocks’ to achieving world class commissioning. In each case, examples of how commissioners have dealt with those ‘roadblocks’ have been provided and 10 ‘Top Tips’ have been developed to help commissioners achieve a good service model.

NICE Commissioning Guides

NEW Publication: Commissioning a Service for the Treatment and Management of Schizophrenia in Adults (NICE January 2010)

Provides support for the local implementation of NICE clinical guidelines through commissioning, and is a resource to help health and social care professionals in England to commission an effective service for the treatment and management of schizophrenia in adults (18 years and over) with an established diagnosis of schizophrenia with onset before age 60.
This commissioning guide should be read together with:NICE clinical guideline CG82. Schizophrenia: core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in adults in primary and secondary care

Health and Wellbeing

NEW Guidance: Guide for World Class Commissioners. Promoting Health and Well-being: Reducing Inequalities (Richard Shircore FRSPH, December 2009)

Guidance to assist commissioners to make the most of the best methods of promoting health, using the latest understanding of how they can support people to make healthy choices as individuals within the social and environmental contexts in which they live.