Grenfell - emotional and mental health support for people affected
Response to question about Grenfell emotional and mental health support, raised at Full Council Meeting on 17 October 2018
Grenfell – emotional and mental health support for people affected
Question by Claire Simmons
Claire Simmons spoke at the Council meeting on 17 October 2018 about emotional and mental health support for people affected by the Grenfell fire.
The Council, in partnership with the NHS, has been delivering an overnight community support service since September 2017. This was set up as an emergency service to support people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, delivered from the Notting Hill Methodist Church.
Due to low levels of attendance and high cost, our clinical partners agreed that it was appropriate to create a more targeted service for those who required an overnight service going forward. The NHS agreed to provide a dedicated phone-based mental health service throughout the night with home visits for those who require it, from 26 October 2018.
The Council works closely with NHS partners who understand the clinical needs of the people they support and agrees that a more targeted service for the small group of users will be more appropriate. Additionally, the Council continues to fund Hestia’s day and evening support provision, which has allowed Hestia to provide flexible support to those requiring it through outreach, community counselling, resilience and reablement groups, and a recovery café.
In a multi-agency meeting on 9 September, two things were agreed:
Council officers were to meet with Healthwatch, as an independent body, to support the NDRAB to carry out the survey. Since the survey has been in the public domain since 22 August via Hestia and the NDRAB, Healthwatch agreed to provide oversight of the results once they are made available. Once the results are published and verified, Healthwatch will liaise with commissioners from the West London CCG and the Council to discuss next steps and any recommendations will be evaluated and actioned in line with other community engagement initiatives that involve the bereaved, survivors and the wider community. CNWL also have a brief questionnaire available for regular users of the service to complete.
A one-month notice period of the change. The letter sent from CNWL and NHS colleagues to community members was dated 26 September, giving one month’s notice. NHS colleagues advised the letter was distributed as follows:
- To Grenfell United and Notting Dale Residents Advisory Board
- Published on the NHS website – and it was tweeted
- The Community Mental Health Nurse at the Methodist Church arranged for it to be given out to anyone who came to the night service
- The 8 regular users are being advised directly about changes
- Grenfell Support Newsletter