County Council Takes Back Control of Adult Mental Services

Published on: 31 May, 2019
Updated on: 31 May, 2019

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Surrey County Council has terminated an agreement with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP), providers of its mental health support for adults. The council is bringing back control of staff delivering adult social care.

Both parties are negotiating services by mental health practitioners for adults, including patients with learning difficulties and disabilities. The council says patients should not see any changes other than perhaps a different person coming out to see them or being assigned to their case.

The council said it wanted to withdraw from the agreement with SABP to “achieve a more preventative model of social care”, focus on “greater collaboration” and improve the “quality and effectiveness” of the service.

SABP said it has accepted the decision and will work with SCC to ensure a “smooth transfer”. The 2012 agreement set out the provision of carer assessment services for adults with mental health concerns and aimed to provide integrated health and social care services.

Staff have been employed by SCCl but managed by SABP. The decision does not affect the CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service) partnership the council has with SABP and Surrey’s Clinical Commissioning Groups.

SCC’s adult social care department has been undergoing a transformation over the past year to save money, cut costs and improve the service.

Cllr Sinead Mooney

Cllr Sinead Mooney (Con, Staines), cabinet member for adults and public health, said this would allow them to give “a better offer to residents” who use the service.

About 183 staff, including social workers and their support, are employed by SCC but managed by SABP. SCC has controlled staff budgets of £8.6 million and the £7.2 million spend on the service which will not be affected. No money was exchanged as part of the agreement.

The decision was revealed in councillor question time at full council on Tuesday, May 21.

Cllr Mooney said: “Ending the Section 75 arrangement will enable the council to achieve a more preventative model of care, focussing on greater collaboration and integration across all sectors, not solely based on secondary health care.

“It is anticipated that improved quality and greater effectiveness can be made in this service using in-house management. This will be a better offer for our residents who require this type of support.

“Avoiding any adverse impact on service users will be central to these discussions – either in the long term, or in the process of transferring work back to the county council.

“Members will know that adult social care has been very successful in reshaping its services to a new model of care that has resulted in significant financial savings to the council in the last year.

“We need to apply the same model and approach to people with mental health problems, and our ambition is to provide better services within the resources that the council can afford.

“The under development of preventive and community resources may have resulted in an over-reliance on costly residential and institutional care.

“Taking back control of the service is an essential first step in this process.”

A report of a decision on how to move forward will be presented to cabinet this year.

Hampshire County Council runs a similar model after taking back control a few years ago.

Lorna Payne, SABP chief operating officer, said: “We have accepted Surrey County Council’s decision to terminate our Section 75 agreement in six months.

We understand that the council will be leading the development of a new service model with collaboration from affected staff, partners, stakeholders and organisations across Surrey.

“We are determined to work with all our health and care partners to make sure the change is as smooth as possible. We have a long history of working closely with adult social care and are committed to continuing to develop this partnership for the benefit of our communities.”