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.
Older adults
The increasing demand for older people’s mental health services resulting from our ageing population is not currently being met by national trends in recruitment and retention in these services (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2019c).
Training for health and social care professionals
The World Health Organisation highlights that that there is ageism in health and social care, in part due to a lack of lack of adequate training for mental health professionals working with older adults (WHO, 2021). Similarly, the NHS Workforce Plan recognises that healthcare professionals will need to develop their knowledge to meet the needs of an increasingly ageing population with more complex needs (NHS England, 2023a).
Health Education England’s Older People’s Mental Health Competency Framework describes the skills, knowledge and abilities required to meet the needs of older people with mental ill-health. Teams can use this framework by assessing what tier of competency is required by staff in each domain, and professionals reviewing and identifying any gaps in their knowledge. Managers can then identify training requirements and create development plans for staff to meet these competencies.
References
Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.