What we do
We provide a wide range of mental health services for older people across Norfolk and Suffolk. Our teams are involved in all aspects of client care, from assessing, reviewing and amending treatment interventions to helping family and friends and helping to plan future care.
All services offer a multi-team approach, typically consisting of nurses, medical staff, occupational therapy social workers and physiotherapists. Where possible people are treated in their own homes; this helps maintain their normal social system, including all family and friends.
Community mental health teams
We have community mental health teams based across Norfolk and north Suffolk. These teams provide full assessment of mental health problems, including monitoring and agreed treatment plans. They provide therapeutic interventions including individual work, family work and group work. They also advise and assist external agencies that support people with mental health problems.
Inpatient and continuing care services
Inpatient care for older people with mental health problems helps people with a range of conditions who cannot be cared for in the community, or other settings, due to the intensity of their illness and the high level of care required. Inpatient wards may be on a general hospital site, in part of a psychiatric hospital or in a purpose-built separate unit or community facility. Wards are clinical areas, but they also reflect the fact that they may be a patient's home for a variable length of time, and facilities should be able to respond to the emotional, psychiatric, physical, social, spiritual and cultural needs of patients.
These services provide:
- Continuous assessment and interventions to address complex psychological and physical needs
- Reviews of treatments and interventions, which can be amended if appropriate
- Future care planning - where appropriate we aim to help family and friends understand the challenges and problems faced by older people, and we discuss options for the future
- Dementia Care Mapping is a recognised tool that provides us with an insight into the experiences of people with dementia
Day Treatment Services
The main aim of day treatment services is to offer assessment and treatment in order to prevent admission to hospital or to aid recovery following admission. There is a strong focus on rehabilitation, with people either attending on a sessional basis or receiving home-based treatment. Interventions are generally time-limited and will end when the person can be integrated into mainstream services or discharged back to the care of their GP. The range of treatment can also provide psychosocial interventions, an alternative to hospital admission, training and advice for carers and community outreach services.
Outreach services
Outreach services may visit and treat people at home, in mainstream and specialist day centres or in residential settings. The service offers assessment as well as therapy. The focus is on supporting clients in the community for as long as possible, avoiding hospital admissions as appropriate, and supporting the clients' carers.
For clients with functional mental health conditions day hospitals operate specific sessions. The focus of their work is on supporting people in the community, trying to avoid hospital admissions through assessment, therapy and treatment.
Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment (CRHT) and intensive support teams
CRHT provides intensive support for people who are in mental health crisis. This support takes place either in their own home or at other suitable locations. The purpose is to offer rapid assessment of people who are suffering acute deterioration in their mental health. The CRHT team will stay involved until the problem is resolved. It is designed to provide prompt home treatment - including medication - in order to prevent hospital admissions and to give support to carers. It may also introduce people to other mental health services.
Memory Assessment and Therapy Services
We provide cognitive assessment, differentiation and diagnosis to people experiencing memory problems. We also provide a pre-post diagnostic supportive counselling. It is for anyone experiencing a mental health problem which may affect their memory. People will be referred to us via their G.P.
Dementia Care Academy
The Dementia Care Academy, based at Hammerton Court, is a comprehensive learning hub for dementia-related information for staff, service users and academics.
It offers workshops and short courses to help support and develop skills, knowledge and confidence. They are matched to the Norfolk & Suffolk Dementia Alliance Competence Framework: A Practical Guide to Fundamental Care for People with Dementia (2011).
The Competence Framework is a set of benchmarks defining the things that people need to be confident in if they are to be effective in delivering good care to people with dementia and their families in all sectors and settings.
Learning and development opportunities in dementia care
Dementia Training Team Learning and Development Prospectus 2013 Course dates