The purpose of this guidance is to support mental health trusts and other specialist mental health service providers in implementing their plans for responding to this flu pandemic. It gives advice and information to minimise the negative impact of swine flu on mental health services and people in contact with those services.
The report argues that mental health organisations will have to find innovative approaches to delivering many aspects of care if they are to respond effectively to the demand for services during the pandemic.
Most emergency plans are based on the short-term escalation of needs for services, but the flu pandemic could have a sustained impact on demand that affects areas simultaneously. This will require different planning responses. Alternatively, some areas (“hot spots”) may be more severely affected than others, as was seen in July 2009.
It argues all mental health service implementation plans should be in line with the following generic principles:
- joint working and integrated planning between all key agencies
- flexible planning to deal with a range of possible scenarios and clinical attack rates
- flexible thinking in maximising local staff capacity
- building on normal delivery models (as far as possible)
- advising and enabling symptomatic H1N1 service users to remain at home
- facilitating rapid access to antiviral medicines
- reducing (some) routine activity but continuing to make essential care available.
- operational plans informed by national planning assumptions
Local response plans for mental health services will also need to consider the following three principles:
- People with mental health problems should receive the same degree of protection and support with managing the pandemic as other members of the population.
- In preparing for and responding to a pandemic, staff within mental health and other relevant trusts will face difficult choices and decisions that may affect the care provided for service users.
- Timely and consistent advice and information is provided which is sensitive to the needs of people with mental health problems and ensures people are not discriminated against or socially excluded during a pandemic.
For more information download the guidance