We believe that people who live with a learning disability or experience mental health issues can and should enjoy a fulfilling life.
That means being mentally and physically healthy, achieving their full potential in education and employment, having positive relationships with the people around them and playing an active role in their local community.
Both the NHS and local authorities spend significant amounts of public money on services for people with mental health needs. Services provide important support, treatment and care to people when they are unwell, but also help to prevent challenges and enable people to understand and manage their condition.
Joint Commissioning is about the NHS and our partner local authorities planning to use the money they spend on these services in a more co-ordinated way. This could be working together to understand what people with mental health needs want from services, rather than asking people separately, or it might mean for example jointly contributing to a scheme to support people into employment.
Working together can help to reduce gaps between services – so that people don’t get passed from one place to another repeating their story each time. It can also mean that we make better use of public money by not planning services that don’t fit together.
The Joint Commissioning Team is made up of nurses, commissioners, administrators and contract managers who are all passionate about improving the mental health of local people. We work for Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, as well as NHS Birmingham and Solihull.
See how we’ve been working in partnership to improve mental health services for people in Birmingham and Solihull by clicking on the image below.
