Agenda item

Resolved:

-       The Board approved the approach and planned actions identified for 2019/20 onwards.

-       The Board requested that work commence on the two other priority areas of BAME health inequalities previously identified i.e. obesity and cancer.

-       That the report for Agenda Item 4 be referred back to HCSC as the Board’s formal response to the HCSC referral in Agenda Item 3.

4.1       Dr Catherine Mbema provided an update to the Board on developments that have taken place over the past year to address BAME mental health inequalities in Lewisham and to request approval for the suggested approach and planned actions for 2019/20 onwards.

4.2       Activities to date for Adults included:

·         BAME mental health summit (October 2018)

·         HWB workshop on ‘Improving health outcomes for BAME communities in Lewisham’ (March 2019)

·         Lewisham Suicide Prevention Strategy (March 2019)

·         Good practice models research (May 2019)

·         Mental health JSNA (June 2019)

4.3       Activities to date for Children and Young People included:

·         Inspire, a school-focused mental health participation group which developed an approach to reduce mental health stigma and strengthen peer to peer support in schools (November 2018).

·         Anna Freud Centre awarded Lewisham CAMHS with the ‘Best Participation in Service’ award.

·         CAMHS-led participation group, Alchemy, designed and delivered cultural awareness training to CAMHS staff.

·         Alchemy commissioned for a further year with a focus on peer-to-peer support and increased emotional literacy in schools (March 2019).

·         Project between National Maritime Museum and two CAMHS participation groups to involve young people with mental health problems designing and making mental health first aid kits for refugee families arriving in Lewisham (June 2019).

·         Expression of Interest submitted to the Department of Education for funding two Mental Health Support Teams. The teams would deliver interventions to CYP with mild to moderate needs in schools. Equality drivers at centre of Lewisham’s proposal included tailoring services for BAMER CYP (march 2019)

·         Recruitment of Healthy Schools Officer to directly support Lewisham schools achieving Healthy School status, which incorporates a whole school approach to improving emotional wellbeing and mental health (June 2019).

4.4      Reducing mental health inequalities is a priority area across all ages within Lewisham Council. A variety of different work has already been implemented and plans are in place for further work in 2019/20 and beyond. The longer term aspiration is for the consideration of BAME health inequalities to be a routine consideration in all aspects of commissioning local services and programmes for the Lewisham population.

4.5      The following comments were made as part of the discussion by members of the Board and those in attendance:

·         Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is making a series of improvements in response to findings from the Mental Health JSNA.

·         Lewisham is an organic ‘Time to Change Hub’ with sign-up forms on the Council’s website. Training will be provided for new ‘Champions’ who have lived experience of mental health conditions.

·         A plan of action has been developed regarding co-production work on BAME health inequalities and this will be presented to the Lewisham BME Network for review and sign-up. Key challenge is to identify time-based monitoring for Development Plan activities.

·         Service user involvement on mental health issues also takes place at the operational group that sits under the Mental Health Alliance Board.

·         A challenge will be to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place across the partnership to make progress and that a willingness exists to address BAME health inequalities.

4.6       Actions:

·         The Board approved the approach and planned actions identified for 2019/20 onwards.

·         The Board requested that work commence on the two other priority areas of BAME health inequalities previously identified i.e. obesity and cancer.

·         That the report for Agenda Item 4 be referred back to HCSC as the Board’s formal response to the HCSC referral in Agenda Item 3.