Enter and View: Mind Community Support Service

Healthwatch Islington conducted enter and view visits to each of the three Islington Mind day services, one announced in April and one unannounced in May with particular focus on how much say the sercie users had in how the centres were run. The services were ; Mind Spa; Mind Empower and Mind Hub. These preventative, community-based services appeared to be under threat and vulnerable to funding cuts or closure and reduction of staff.

The main summary of the visits was:

- It was very important to service users, managers and staff that a hot meal is provided during a drop in session.

- Service users spoke about wanting the service to be open longer and more often (especially in the evenings and at weekends), although there was recognition that this would mean there needed to be increased funding for staff.

- There were many ways for service users to feed back about the service, from weekly meetings, to key worker sessions, questionnaires and direct comments. People felt they were listened to. At Mind Hub some service users wanted to see the introduction of more formal courses with tutors, or a ‘buddy scheme’ (for moving on). They also suggested improving the quality of the computers.

- There seemed to be slightly different pressures on staff at each centre, but overall staff were seen as supportive and welcoming. Service users also said that staff seemed to have less time to spend with them. It was recognised that this was down to increased paperwork and a decrease in funding. Staff seemed to feel well supported. Feedback did suggest that there could be increased access to training.

- Some service users spoken to were anxious that Islington Mind’s day service might close or lose funding, so much so that the Enter and View team had service users queuing to speak to them about how good the service is.

- The changing landscape of welfare has also led to an increase of anxiety in service users accessing these centres. It has also put more pressure on staff who seem to spend an increasing amount of time supporting service users in their applications for Pip, ESA and supporting them with housing issues.

HW made the following recommendations:

- Service user feedback suggested that there is no clear way of communicating experiences of the Mind service in the borough to an independent body. The new service should address this shortcoming and ensure that these channels are made known to the service users.

- The new service would need at least the same, if not higher staffing levels. If not there would be a risk of the rehabilitative aspect of the service being diluted.

- Service users seemed very anxious that this service is going to be taken away. It is very important that conversations around the re-tendering process be very carefully and clearly communicated with service users.

- Ensure that service users are involved at every step of the re-tendering process to reduce the inevitable anxiety service users will experience.

The response from the provider was mainly to clarify two points made in the report and not to address the recommendations.