Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Devon Partnership NHS Trust was established in 2001. It provides mental health and learning disability services in Devon (excluding Plymouth), England.

During the course of a year, the Trust receives 64,000 referrals. It supports around 18,000 people at any one time and makes contact with around 900 people every day. It provides a wide range of services, including:

• Adults

• Older people (including a Dementia Wellbeing Service in Bristol). The Trust created an innovative care home training project in 2013 receiving funding from the Prime Ministers Dementia Challenge Fund. The South Devon Care Home Learning Community has shown a significant improvement in the quality of care for people with dementia in care homes and won the British Medical Journal Dementia Team of the Year 2015. The reorganisation of the Devon Dementia Service has also received a Royal College of Psychiatrists Innovation Award and was shortlisted for a National Patient Safety Award in 2015.

• People who are low in mood, stressed, anxious or depressed

• People with an eating disorder

• People in general hospitals who may have mental health and/or learning disability needs as well as physical health needs

• Pregnant women and new mothers

• People who have concerns about their gender

• People with drug and alcohol needs (in Torbay)

• People in contact with the police and criminal justice system

• People who need support and care in secure services

In December 2016, the Trust announced that it had applied for planning permission to build a brand new, £5.5m Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Exeter. This service is not currently available in Devon and, during 2015/16, 116 placements were made outside the county for people requiring care in a PICU. Reducing the number of people who have to travel long distances for care is one of the Trust's main objectives, and it has reduced the number by two thirds in the last two years.

In 2016, NHS England announced that funding had been identified to build a specialist Mother and Baby Unit in the south west to support new mothers with severe mental health needs. The Trust is actively making the case to have the unit located in Devon. Like the PICU, it will make a huge difference to people, and their families, who currently have to travel long distances for care outside Devon.

As well as community and hospital services, the Trust has a number of other teams providing services for people with more specific needs. These include:

• Depression and Anxiety Service (which receives around 20,000 referrals a year)

• A range of secure services provided at Langdon in Dawlish – which generally support people who have come into contact with the criminal justice system

• The Haldon Eating Disorder Service in Exeter, which provides residential care and treatment for people with severe disorders, such as anorexia nervosa

• The West of England Gender Identity Clinic, for people with issues around their gender

• MINDFUL EMPLOYER - an initiative that recognises and supports employers who are Positive about mental health. The scheme celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2014, has received widespread praise and has been adopted by countries as far afield as Canada and Australia.

The Trust has specialist Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams that support people who require urgent care and support. Increasingly, it is working with colleagues in the county’s general hospitals to integrate physical health services with mental health and learning disability services. These include liaison psychiatry teams to support adults and older people in hospital with a wide range of needs, as well as specialist learning disability nurses, memory clinics (to support people with a possible diagnosis of dementia) and perinatal teams to support pregnant women and new mothers. The Trust is also working increasingly closely with the police to support people with mental health and learning disability needs and its Street Triage and Liaison and Diversion services have attracted widespread acclaim.

The Trust was last inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July 2015, and its overall rating was 'Requires Improvement'. More than 70% of the services inspected by the CQC were rated as 'Good'. The CQC is conducting a focused re-inspection of the organization in December 2016.