Older People:

The Older People commissioners at the Barnet Primary Care Trust are responsible for commissioning specialist inpatient and community services for older people. These services link with both health and social care providers within, as well as outside of Barnet. The Older People commissioners work in partnership with patients and their relatives to provide a high standard of multi-disciplinary care that is both flexible and responsive to the needs of individual patients. CDWs provide support to Older People projects; they assess the needs of elderly people from BMER backgrounds and try to ensure, on a strategic level, that their language, cultural, spiritual and religious needs are met. The main objective is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of older people, in particular older people from BMER backgrounds, and their experience of using Mental Health services.

Dementia:

Barnet Primary Care Trust has been working with the Kings fund and the London Borough of Barnet to agree a care pathway for adults and older people with dementia. The commissioning objectives include: developing a whole systems model for older people with mental health problems; identifying specialist services to support older people living in the community; improving access to acute hospital care for people who have dementia; and improving access to early intervention for older people with mental health problems and their carers. Initiatives to improve access to community support and information advice, targeted at isolated older people, including people from BMER communities, and older people at risk of stroke will also support this patient group. CDWs play an important role in safeguarding and advocating the needs and interests of BMER people with dementia.

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: IAPT:

The Barnet Primary Care Trust has taken the opportunity to be involved in the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program, currently without having access to project funding. Current service provision is being assessed and a paper presented to the Primary Care Trust Priorities Forum, to agree what sort of service provision is required within Barnet. Resource allocation to IAPT is expected in 2008/9.

CAMHS:

The Barnet Primary Care Trust is responsible for commissioning forensic support for children and young people with high need and behavioural difficulties as part of the Children and Adult Mental Health services (CAMHS).