Hope Haven, a community mental health hub in Whitehaven in north-west England, is one of six open-access pilot centres offering preventive care around the clock, according to The Guardian. The hubs provide support without requiring a diagnosis or referral, an approach that reflects concerns that traditional NHS services have struggled to improve local wellbeing.
In its first five months, from March to July, about 3,000 people accessed support either digitally or in person, and nearly half of them had never been in contact with NHS mental health services before. Admissions to inpatient mental health wards in the area fell by 24% between January and September compared with the same period last year.
The five other pilot centres are in Lewisham and Tower Hamlets in London, Birmingham, York and Sheffield. After Andy Burnham announced £343m towards a redesign of mental health services this summer, 100 more are due to open gradually starting this autumn, with an evaluation of the pilot centres later this year.
The hubs build on the Trieste model of mental health care, a 24-hour holistic approach that began in 1980s Italy, and host local services under one roof, from exercise classes to financial advice and housing support. They also house short-stay beds for overnight support. Whitehaven's main employer is Sellafield Ltd, a nuclear decommissioning site, and the area has one of the highest suicide rates in England, at 20 people per 100,000, almost double the national rate.