The New Models of Community Mental Health programme developed a good practice document in November 2022  to support the CPA Transformation work, in line with the NHSE CPA Position Statement, which was developed to support systems to begin moving away from the CPA in line with the five principles and embed personalised care and support planning for everyone receiving community mental health services. 

The Advancing Mental Health Equalities Community of Practice (CoP) sits within TPHC’s Mental Health Transformation programme, and is part of a wider Advancing Mental Health Equalities in London programme. The CoP was established in October 2020 to bring together London’s mental health leaders across different sectors and organisations including mental health providers, commissioners, clinical experts, ICS transformation leads, voluntary care sector and people with lived experience.

Our Community of Practice is a collaborative pan-London forum that meets quarterly. In September 2022, in consultation with our CoP members, it was agreed that the focus of our quarterly meetings will be around advancing mental health equalities.

The main aims of our Community of Practice are to:

• Create a space for people and organisations to come together, share expertise and knowledge, and collaborate.
• Help to build a picture of common challenges, gaps and enablers for advancing mental health equalities across London.
• Collaboratively celebrate and analyse good practice, highlighting successes that have the potential to be spread across different areas.
• Support continuous communication on relevant programmes, policies and initiatives at local, regional and national levels.

Upcoming meetings

Thursday 5 October 2023, 12pm-2pm

Our most recent Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for advancing mental health equality in London took place on Thursday 5 October 2023. This CoP aims to bring together the diverse range of organisations and experts working in this space across the capital. During this event, presentations were shared showcasing examples of mental health equality programmes and services, including:

• Andrew Brown: Croydon BME Forum
• David Woodhead: Made in Communities – The Better Mental Health Fund
• Dr Ed Beveridge, Aileen Jackson, Jill Owens and Shilpi Shobowale: Addressing Physical Health Inequalities in the SMI (Serious Mental Illness) population

The meeting was chaired by Abdirahim Hassan, Founder of Coffee Afrik CIC. Attendees were also invited to take part in breakout sessions to join discussions around what themes and collective aims should be taken forward by the CoP.  See the full agenda here. 

The full meeting recording and presentation materials can be viewed on the FutureNHS workspace.

Contact: for more information about the CoP or to receive future calendar invites, sign up here or email: s.tejero@nhs.net or tim.hess@nhs.net.

Resources

Working with the CoP membership, TPHC aims to develop a suite of resources and support materials based on each of the focus topics. In 2022, COP meetings focused on the Care Programme Approach transformation, browse the meeting resources below.

Care Programme Approach Transformation

The Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults replaced the Care Programme Approach (CPA) for community mental health services. It enables services to shift away from an inequitable, rigid, and arbitrary CPA classification and bring up the standard of care towards a minimum universal standard of high-quality care for everyone in need of community mental healthcare.

The New Models of Community Mental Health programme developed a good practice document in November 2022  to support the CPA Transformation work, in line with the NHSE CPA Position Statement, which was developed to support systems to begin moving away from the CPA in line with the five principles and embed personalised care and support planning for everyone receiving community mental health services. 

As local approaches evolve and implementation accelerates, the aim of this document is to share good practice examples and practical ways of approaching the principles of the CPA transformation as shared by a number of mental health trusts in London and across the country. The document also includes a collation of resources from different services and initiatives to promote learning between mental health providers.

Document development

• We used the outputs from the February and June 2022 CoP meetings across the five principles including older adults.
• We engaged with a group of experts by lived experience including service users and carers to understand their views on each of the five principles (including an additional principle around older adults), and their feedback, experiences and feelings were incorporated.
• We engaged with a number of mental health trusts in London and across the country who shared good practice examples or practical ways of approaching the different principles of the CPA transformation.
• We reviewed and included content from existing resources that support the CPA transformation processes.

This document was developed in collaboration with a group of experts by lived experience including service users and carers, mental health trusts in London and across the country, ICS/ICB colleagues and voluntary care sector partners.