Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Not Addressed
Commission independent evaluation of the Community Mental Health Framework's implementation and impact.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government changes its current approach and commission an independent and comprehensive evaluation of how the Community Mental Health Framework has been implemented and its impact by the end of the financial year. This should not be seen as drawing a line under the Framework, but as a necessary step in ensuring that the Government and NHS England deliver on its commitment of integrated, personalised, and coordinated care. Without such evaluation, there is a risk that gaps in implementation will persist and that future transformation efforts will lack the insight and learnings needed to succeed in all areas of the country. (Recommendation, Paragraph 74)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states it accepts the recommendation, but its response describes NHS England publishing new guidance on a 'personalised care framework' and the role of a 'named worker' within multidisciplinary teams. It does not address the specific recommendation to commission an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the Community Mental Health Framework's implementation and impact.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The government does not accept this recommendation. Between 2019 and 2021, 12 ‘early implementor’ sites were selected to pilot putting the community mental health framework into practice as well as to develop and share learning on implementation. Each site received funding to evaluate their transformation so that learning could be shared with all systems. NHS England developed and shared an evaluation report based upon this learning to coincide with all systems receiving transformation funding from April 2021. Since then, NHS England has continued to work closely with all systems to identify and share learning, as well as developing a range of resources designed to support the implementation of the vision set out in the community mental health framework. Every local system will have taken the vision of the framework and applied it to their unique circumstances, taking into consideration varied local contexts and the complexity of the transformation described which involves integration with primary care, VCSFE organisations and local authorities. We continue to monitor the performance of community mental health services through the national mental health services dataset. This has shown a substantial increase in rates of access to community mental health services as systems implement the vision set out in the framework. Alongside rates of access, NHS England continues to work with systems to improve the quality of patient reported outcome reporting in services. Ultimately improvements in patient outcomes will be the best measure of the impact of new models of care. As part of developing the MSF on SMI, we will be assessing the evidence and engaging with stakeholders to understand what lessons can be learnt from implementation of the community mental health framework. This will include which strategies and interventions have been most effective as well as the barriers to delivering good practice care.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗