Birmingham Users Win Consultation

A Birmingham MH activist's Blog is reporting the following :

Userwatch has had sent to it a flyer showing that in North Birmingham Kingstanding UK , a consultation meeting has been gained for the locality after some pressure was applied and requests at a recent Council Overview Scrutiny Health Committee meeting were made directly to the Mental Health Trust who were in attendance there

Userswatch learns that some people in Kingstanding will be making the most of this and making sure the information is shared around as best as it can be . Its a short run in though really because the consultation ends on Oct 23rd and so far there has been paltry information surrounding the advantages and disadvantages of Foundation Trust status for the public to digest ..

Already Dept Of Health estimates show that 85% of patients can be captured in some statistical methods which in turn will be used to control budgets allocated to the new Mental Health FT Trusts.

The stats are based on predictions on how to spend money based on current patterns of spends, yet this is flawed already some Users claim , because some conditions are not at all well catered for and are quite serious though left out of the treament cores which have increasingly become medical model orientated with little option for other types of conditions which are socially caused .

Its clear to Userwatch some conditions are not being catered for and involve high levels of psychic pain and the need for deep therapeutic intervention . Even those conditions on the medical model side cannot get enough "talking therapy" intervention which offers extra ways to navigate and build trust in dealing with emotional pain and the "internal world" of affect as well as how the present day world might collide into that for them

It is estimated by the DoH that 15% of patients cannot be captured properly within its new 13 clusters of predictive typing designed for Mental Health Foundation Trusts leading to a "payment by results" table of patient-types who fall within it - and therefore the others who do not .

So the question needs to be asked :

Are there any advantages to Foundation Trusts in Mental Health .. ? We can say immediately - not for the 15% it appears ..