Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee
Call for Evidence
Announcement Of Committee Inquiry: Mental Health Services In The Community
The Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry into mental health services in the community and is calling for those with an interest or expertise in this area to submit written evidence.
Background
Much work has been undertaken on mental health issues in recent years resulting in new and proposed legislation and a number of policy review and strategy documents. It is therefore opportune that the Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee of the National Assembly for Wales is undertaking an inquiry into mental health services in the community in Wales.Terms of Reference
The Committee has agreed the following terms of reference for the inquiry: The provision of community based mental health services in Wales for people aged 16-60 years, with a specific focus on:- The capacity and geographical availability of services
- The provision of services for young people over 16 years in transition from children’s to adult services
- The impact of the effectiveness of community based services on hospital admissions and delayed transfers of care
- The effective co-ordination of health and social care elements of community mental health services
- Equality issues relating to community mental health services, including those for BME groups
- Examples of good practice in the delivery of services
- Weaknesses in current provision of community services for adults.
- Poor integration of health and social care in some Community Mental Health Teams.
- Problems for 16-18 year olds accessing mental health services and making the transition between children’s and adult services.
- Issues around alternatives to hospital admission and prompt and safe discharge resulting from inadequate community services including crisis resolution/home treatment and housing and support services.
- Concerns around the Care Programme Approach, including variable implementation across Wales.
- Concerns around the adequacy of mental health services for BME groups, physically disabled people and those with children.
Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to the Clerk of the Committee at the address below, to arrive no later than Friday 3 April 2009. If possible, please supply an electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text format, either by e mail to health.wellbeing.localgovt.comm@wales.gsi.gov.uk or on a disk. Further guidance on the submission of evidence is attached. I would be grateful if you could share this request with other interested parties or, where appropriate, any of your member organisations.
The Committee may call on those who have submitted written evidence to supplement it in oral evidence to the Committee. Please indicate in your response whether you would be prepared to give evidence in person.
Witnesses should be aware that once written evidence has been submitted to the Committee it is treated as the property of the Committee. It is the Committee’s intention to place written papers on its website, and they may subsequently be printed with the report.
It is normal practice for the National Assembly to publish evidence provided to a committee. Consequently your response may appear in a report or in supplementary evidence to a report. The National Assembly will not publish information which it considers to be personal data.
In the event of a request for information submitted under UK legislation, it may be necessary to disclose the information that you provide. This may include information which has previously been removed by the National Assembly for publication purposes.
If you are providing any information, other than personal data, which you feel is not suitable for public disclosure, it is up to you to stipulate which parts should not be published, and to provide a reasoned argument to support this. The National Assembly will take this into account when publishing information or responding to requests for information.
26 February 2009
