Enter and view: South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust East Wandsworth Community Mental Health Team

Healthwatch Wandsworth visited the East Wandsworth Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) to understand how well it supports people with severe mental illness in the community. Feedback from 12 service users and one carer was generally positive, with many praising staff for their support, particularly care coordinators and recovery support workers. Participants felt recent improvements to the service had had a positive impact. 

However, a number of concerns were identified around communication, continuity of care, crisis planning and discharge arrangements. Several patients were unaware of their care plans or crisis plans, some had experienced multiple changes of care coordinator, and carers did not always feel listened to or involved in decisions. 

Key Findings

• Most patients were positive about the support they received from CMHT staff.
• Continuity of care was a recurring concern, particularly frequent changes of care coordinator or psychiatrist. 
• Some patients were not aware of their care plans, treatment goals or crisis plans despite these being recorded by the service. 
• Carers generally felt involved but some reported difficulties getting their concerns heard.
• Access to support outside normal working hours was highlighted as an area for improvement. 
• The team was praised for helping patients with wider issues such as housing, employment and benefits, alongside mental health support. 

Conclusion

The report concluded that the East Wandsworth CMHT was providing a generally good service and that recent improvement efforts appeared to be working. Healthwatch recommended better communication about care and crisis plans, improved continuity of care, stronger support for carers, clearer discharge processes, enhanced out-of-hours support, and consideration of reducing team caseloads in the longer term.