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Vicky Hall CEO
Cascade Care Ltd |
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Stephen Hay, Chief Operating Officer at Monitor, the independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts, is a chartered accountant. So when, on April 1st, he wrote to all 40 Mental Health Foundation Trusts in England, asking them to plan for an extra 4.5%-5% cut for Year 2010-11 (the equivalent, according to Rethink, to a spending reduction of £50 million) it’s safe to assume that Monitor had done its sums to advise FTs what they must do to remain within budget.
The question is where will these cuts fall? Most Foundation Trusts have already gone through cost cutting exercises. Now, with leaner times ahead (Stephen Hay is also calling for further similar cuts for years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013) Foundation Trusts are going to have to cut even deeper.
In our Case Study about Peter (published right) we show how, by receiving quality
care, a paranoid schizophrenic with personality disorder, who was still in a fragile condition when he came to Cascade, can, after just a few months, take decisive steps along his recovery pathway.
In his letter to Foundation Trusts, Mr Hay wrote “We recognise the scale of the productivity challenge that these efficiency requirements imply”. Whilst, at Cascade, we don’t necessarily use the term ‘productivity challenge’ in respect of our service users, we are absolutely focused on their mental well being and recovery, which is why we achieve a 78% success rate after move-on. We call on every Foundation Trust to do everything possible to minimize cuts to front line services in community based mental healthcare. Service users like Peter deserve nothing less. |
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 Case Study
“I wouldn’t have believed them, Irene”
When Peter came to Cascade in November
2009, both his RMO and CPN thought that
by Christmas he would be back in the same hospital where he had spent the previous 8 years. That was before the staff at Cascade 5 sat down with Peter to talk to him about his Care Plan.
Peter wasn’t used to being consulted about what he wanted to do with his life. Good as the treatment had been in hospital, the eight years he had spent there had left him dependent on others for decision making. Now, unexpectedly, he was with people who wanted to listen to what he had to say.
Peter said he liked music and wanted to be a pop producer. He expected to be told to be more realistic. But that’s not the way we do things at Cascade. Within a few days Peter found himself at The Chocolate Factory in North London being asked about what sort of music he would like to produce. Since then he’s been going to the Chocolate Factory’s recording studios twice a week. And he’s now produced two CDs all of his own.
Peter also said he wanted a job, but, with no skills, was pessimistic about his chances. He didn’t much fancy getting up early in the morning either. But with support and encouragement from the staff, he enrolled at Work Well to start training in the print shop. Just four months later, in March this year, Peter’s Manager at Cascade was invited by Work Well to attend a presentation. Expecting Peter to receive only one certificate for his hard work, she was delighted when he was awarded no fewer than 6 awards in total. He now has the work skills to get full time employment.
After the ceremony in March, Peter was asked by his Home Manager what he would have said to anyone 6 months earlier if they had told him he would have won all these awards. Exhuding a new confidence a beaming Peter replied simply “I wouldn’t have believed them, Irene”. |
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