Shaping Mental Health Services Together Report

Healthwatch Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar & Cleveland hosted an event on Wednesday 16th March in collaboration with North East Together and Voices for Choices. The main purpose of the event was to gather views and experiences of those who access mental health services in the locality. The event ‘Shaping Mental Health Services Together’ attracted over 120 people ranging from service users, family members, carers, mental health service providers and staff from the Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England.

Attendees reported accessing a wide range of services including GPs, hospitals, crisis teams, CAMHS, community mental health services, talking therapies, voluntary and community organisations, learning disability services, carers' services, and specialist mental health providers. Community and voluntary organisations were identified as playing a significant role in supporting mental health and wellbeing.

Participants highlighted several positive aspects of local services. In Stockton, people valued Community Psychiatric Nurses, the Lighthouse Drop-in Centre, GP services, MIND, Starfish, and dementia support services. In Middlesbrough, attendees reported improved awareness of mental health issues, good partnership working, and positive experiences at Roseberry Park and local IAPT services. In Redcar & Cleveland, CAMHS staff, community-based support, peer support groups, and the Saltburn Wellbeing Centre received particularly positive feedback. Across all three areas, participants praised the range of available services, skilled staff, community groups that tackled isolation, and recovery-focused initiatives such as Starfish’s arts programmes.

The most common concerns related to waiting times, communication, and access to services. Participants reported long waits for appointments, particularly for children and young people, counselling, talking therapies, and services such as Foxrush House. There were concerns about shortages of inpatient mental health beds, poor communication between services, and inadequate information about available support. 

Many attendees felt that services were fragmented, requiring people to repeatedly explain their circumstances to different professionals. There were concerns that GPs relied too heavily on medication and did not always provide information about alternative support options. Participants also reported difficulties accessing crisis support, particularly outside normal working hours, and criticised the performance and accessibility of crisis teams.

Additional issues included insufficient prevention services, poor transitions between children’s and adult services, limited support for people with both mental health and substance misuse needs, barriers faced by people with learning disabilities or sensory impairments, and inadequate support for carers. Attendees also expressed concern about stigma, poor public awareness of mental health, and a lack of promotion of available services.

Participants suggested increasing investment in mental health staffing, prevention services, and voluntary sector organisations. They recommended improving awareness of available services through better communication, signposting, directories, and public education campaigns. Greater collaboration between providers was seen as essential to create more joined-up, person-centred care.

Other recommendations included:

• Reducing waiting times and providing updates while people wait for support.
• Expanding support for young people and strengthening mental health education in schools and universities.
• Improving crisis services and providing support after a crisis to prevent relapse.
• Offering more holistic alternatives to medication.
• Improving transitions between child and adult mental health services.
• Increasing support for carers, families, and people with dual diagnoses.
• Providing more peer support opportunities.
• Increasing mental health expertise within GP practices.
• Ensuring services remain patient-centred and focused on individual needs.

The discussion groups agreed a number of key priorities. These included increasing funding for prevention and awareness-raising, improving access for minority and hard-to-reach groups, strengthening links between GPs and wellbeing services, supporting carers, improving communication across services, increasing weekend and out-of-hours support, reducing referral waiting times, providing clearer pathways into services, improving access to 24-hour advice and signposting, and ensuring services work together to deliver person-centred care.