Enter and view: Community Mental Health Team (CMHT), Lambeth

In November 2016, Healthwatch Lambeth, carried out an Enter and View visit to the Mood, Anxiety and Personality (MAP) Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT).

Mental health was a priority area for Healthwatch Lambeth and considering the NHS intention to move treatment delivery away from secondary services into the community, Healthwatch Lambeth decided to conduct Enter and View visits to community mental health services in 2016.

The aim of this visits was to:

• Listen to how service users experience the services and support they receive at Lambeth’s MAP CMHT

• Speak to staff about their experiences of working at the MAP CMHT, and

• Observe the physical environment of the service

During the visits the team spoke to nine service users at the MAP CMHT who were receiving different services and nine members of staff including the service manager, reception staff, the clinical treatment team and care coordinators during our visits.

The report made in total 11 recommendations including those shown below:

• Communication between care coordinators and service users ought to be consistent and reliable.

• All service users should be given an alternative contact number to raise concerns about their care (i.e. such as requiring a medication review).

• Non-clinical staff who interact with service users should be offered basic mental health training.

• The service should communicate examples of how feedback has been acted upon to bring improvement

Within the report there was a response from the provider, however the conclusion suggests more can be done by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) NHS Foundation Trust and the NHS Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group.