Half term report:...

Half term report: Sustainability in crisis pathways and the RCPsych scholarship The first half of the RCPsych sustainability scholarship has brought fascinating insights into the workings of a CCG, and the steps involved in the commissioning of services. I was involved in a GP members engagement event in which priorities for commissioning were discussed and ideas invited from participants. I was part of a session on waste reduction in which we spoke with local GPs to generate ideas about how local services could be improved and waste reduced. I have also been involved with a review and redesign of the crisis pathway in the local area. I looked into best practice from elsewhere around the country to identify efficient models of organising services, which led to a recommendation that a Single Point of Access could be developed in alignment with a new service in another part of London. The work with the redesign of crisis pathways has led to the current project which involves analysing data about the users of crisis services in order to inform decisions about how resources should be most effectively focussed. If we find that particular demographic groups are over-represented in the use of crisis services in this locality, this may allow for focussed intervention to support these groups. Related to this we will be looking at social sustainability in relation to crisis care, including a review of models of services such as street triage, crisis cafe and a peer-supported 'open dialogue' approach currently being implemented in other parts of the world...