With neighbourhood health lying at the centre of the Government’s emerging Health Mission, we are deeply committed to ensuring that adult social care providers — both independent and voluntary — have a meaningful voice in the transformation.
Earlier this year, we ran a webinar exploring how we turn the Government’s vision of neighbourhood health into a reality through collective action in local neighbourhoods.
Our member, Association of Mental Health Providers (AMHP), is ensuring voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisation perspectives are a part of the design, delivery and evaluation of mental health crisis services.
The AMHP co-chairs the national VCFSE Network with NHS England, and through this network, pilot programmes across the country are testing integrated, non-clinical crisis alternatives within neighbourhood systems, jointly delivered by statutory and VCSE partners.
These include:
- In Birmingham, a new 24/7 mental health centre is scheduled to open in November — an example of community‑led, non‑medical crisis intervention will be showcased.
- In Tower Hamlets, the pilot’s alliance has expanded to include 20 organisations, where the role of lived‑experience practitioners is central to service design and delivery.
- In Sheffield, commissioning is being finalised for crisis beds and wrap‑around clinical support, underpinned by strong peer leadership.
Across all sites, the common themes are: authentic partnership, shared risk across partners, and co‑production with people with lived experience to deliver better outcomes.
In addition, AMHP is working with the London School of Economics and NHS England on an academic paper capturing early learning from these pilots, which will help inform service design, business models and partnership arrangements.
Through our member AMHP’s engagement in this VCFSE Network, we are influencing the policy and commissioning environment as well as shape the models, practices and learning frameworks that will influence future mental health service provision in the community.
As a collective, ensuring social care is a part of the neighbourhood‑based services conversation, so that alongside statutory partners and lived‑experience expertise, genuine workable systems can be developed to deliver services for unique local needs.
Join our Community of Practice
Investing in the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism sectors is an investment in people and communities.
As the NHS and social care systems plan their next steps, it’s time to make sure the our diverse and vibrant sector is recognised as a key part of the solution to the mental health crisis experienced in England.
Find out more and add to the conversation in our Mental Health & Learning Disabilities Community of Practice here.
