Patients under the care of Community Mental Health Teams at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust will have access to dedicated financial wellbeing support through a partnership with Potteries MoneyWise, a service from Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent.
The charity has been appointed to operate its Potteries MoneyWise service at the NHS Trust as part of the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, a new proactive model of community-based mental health care which is currently being embedded across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, in a continuation of the partnership between the charity and the Trust.
Sarah Newton, Senior Service Manager for Transformation, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “There is evidence that financial difficulties disproportionately impact service users with serious mental health needs. The role of the financial wellbeing service provision by Potteries MoneyWise is to offer a range of flexible support options to people with financial difficulties within the region. The service will advise and support patients who are under the care of the Trust’s Community Mental Health teams.”
“Combined Healthcare has worked with Potteries MoneyWise and Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent for many years, and we are delighted that they have been appointed to deliver this enhanced service for the transformation programme following a competitive tendering process across the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector in North Staffordshire.”
Jay Lowe, Money Advice Manager, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent, said: “We are pleased to be working with North Staffordshire Community Mental Health Teams to advise their service users on their financial difficulties. Money problems cause stress and anxiety and can reduce someone’s ability to recover from mental health conditions. We aim to help service users establish good habits with money & spending and to build their financial confidence.”
“We have two tiers of support, so we can maximise the help and advice we can give service users by advising at the right level. For tier one advice, such as making a phone call to an agency to understand a payment or bill; the client may be able to follow our advice themselves or they may need some assistance from mental health services to act on the advice given. For tier two advice, the Potteries MoneyWise adviser would expect to assist the client or speak on their behalf; this is where we would be helping with complex issues where specialist knowledge and work is needed, for example, energy disputes or complex benefit applications.”
The three-year Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, taking place between 2021 – 2024 across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, supports the priorities set out within the NHS Long Term Plan and will be delivered across 24 PCNs (Primary Care Networks) in the region. A new proactive model of community-based mental health care, based within PCNs, will be created with mental health NHS trusts working in partnership with GPs, commissioners, local authorities and voluntary and community organisations – alongside people with lived experience, their families and carers.
The work will focus on serious mental illness, with work programmes focusing in particular on transforming personality disorder, eating disorders and community rehabilitation for adults. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is the NHS trust delivery partner for North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, with Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust delivering across South Staffordshire.
To find out more about the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, please visit https://www.twbstaffsandstoke.org.uk/about-us/our-work/mental-health/adult-community-mental-health-transformation