We are working to ensure that children on the Isle of Wight are supported to get the best start in life that will lead to good health and wellbeing. This will provide the foundation to ensure they are able to achieve the best opportunities and keep as healthy and well as possible throughout their lives.
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We want to ensure that people on the Isle of Wight are able to live independently in their own homes with appropriate care support. We want to make sure older residents are supported to play an active role in their communities and supported to maintain and develop their social and community networks.
A pioneering project, which integrates mental health care and policing on the Isle of Wight, has scooped two prestigious national healthcare awards, and was Highly Commended in a third category.
The Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM) project, run by Hampshire Constabulary and the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, and supported by Wessex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), won the Clinical Support Services and Mental Health HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards. It was also Highly Commended in the Workforce Efficiency category.
SIM - which previously won a Royally-endorsed national health award, and is one of this year’s NHS England National Innovation Accelator Fellows is recognised as being effective at bringing together policing and healthcare skills to achieve a positive difference to the lives of mental health patients and their families.
In the Clinical Support entry the judges were blown away by the real impact on people's lives, families and communities. They started small and are now exemplars sharing their work across the UK and world wide. In the Mental Health entry the judges felt that the team has identified a clear gap and put in a simple, cross boundary system building on what was already good practice. The result has been significant across both patient experience and financial impact, with a replicable solution
Sergeant Paul Jennings said: “It’s fantastic that the process and progress of this project is receiving further national recognition from an industry publication as respected as the Health Service Journal (HSJ).“The originality and ingenuity of SIM was commended several times last year, which has provided a strong platform for discussions on how the SIM model can evolve and expand to other parts of the country.“All of us involved in SIM hope these nominations can focus more people’s attention on how a different way of thinking can enable the police and NHS to enhance their expertise in collaboration. It’s a combined approach that provides a breakthrough to resolving some of the most complex behaviour and consequences linked with mental health.”Vicki Haworth, from Isle of Wight NHS Trust, and the Mental Health Innovations Lead and Clinical Lead for SIM, said: "We are so proud to have jointly developed this new model of care with Hampshire Constabulary, which provides a jointly commissioned police officer to work in and alongside our mental health practitioners and teams."This is a really good example of the ‘My Life a Full Life’ approach to services. We have seen dramatic reductions in admissions to our acute psychiatric wards and Emergency Department, in police call outs and ambulance deployments. Most importantly we have had really good feedback from our service users involved in the SIM programme and from their families."For more information about the SIM project, please visit the project's pages for an overview. You can also watch a video below, and follow @SIMIntensive on Twitter.
