We were pleased to welcome Rebecca Gray, Chair of the NHS Confederation Mental Health Network , to our Thanet Safe Haven.

Open 24/7 with no need for an appointment, the service supported over 2,700 people last year, providing vital crisis support and helping reduce pressure on the nearby A&E.

As a co-located site, Thanet Safe Haven reflects the kind of non-clinical alternative we recently highlighted in our open letter to the Health Secretary, which was recognised as a 'pioneering model.'

Rebecca was joined by Tracey Bell, our Director of Quality and Operations, along with colleagues from our local team.

Reflections from Rebecca Gray

Rebecca shared her reflections on the visit, emphasising the importance of collaboration in crisis care:

"This week I visited one of Mental Health Matters safe havens in Thanet, Kent, co-located with a mental health unit run by Kent & Medway Partnership Trust on the site of an acute hospital – a two minute walk from the doors of A&E.

Our discussion covered the benefits of NHS and VCSE partnership, effective working with liaison psychiatry able to assess on site if needed, how the Mental Health Matters team collaborates with crisis houses being created by the trust across sites in Kent, partnerships with the police in the context of the introduction of Right Care, Right Person and much more.

Making crisis care effective will be in part about bricks and mortar – there is very little capital funding available – but as the havens demonstrate, the right care is going to be as much, if not more about the partnerships in place.

The benefits of NHS/VCSE collaboration to provide non-clinical support alongside excellent clinical care increasingly characterises so much of mental health provision. It is something to be nurtured and supported."

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