Capacity
There are many factors that impact capacity in a geographical area, including historical and current levels of spending (in terms of revenue, capital and infrastructure), and the recruitment, retention and deployment of staff. Wider health system capacity will also impact on the ability of services to make the best use of capacity.
GIRFT states that paying close attention to the linkages and dependencies that exist between different levels of care and the individual part of the wider health and social care system is essential to ensuring that trusts have the capacity to provide all patients with timely and appropriate access. Patients must also be able to move between different levels of care intensity (in both directions), as well as being able to enter and exit the service with minimum difficulty. If all the constituent parts are operating efficiently and in concert with each other, patients will access appropriate care and not become stranded, thus maximising total capacity (Davidson, 2021).
Core elements of capacity in mental health systems are communications, digital, funding and workforce.
References
Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.