In February 2014, 22 national bodies involved in health, policing, social care, housing, local government and the third sector came together and signed the national 'Crisis Care Concordat'. It focused on four main areas:

• Access to support before crisis point
• Urgent and emergency access to crisis care
• Quality of treatment and care when in crisis
• Recovery and staying well

In late November NHS Sheffield CCG signed a joint declaration with a number of partner organisations across South Yorkshire reflecting our agreement ti work together to improve the care and support for people in crisis in accordance with the shared goals of the concordat. This South Yorkshire Declaration was to be supplemented with a local plan for each discreet geographical area of which, of course, Sheffield is one.

The local plan has now been produced and will be available to view on the national website www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk. 

The plan is the product of close working between the statutory health and social care providers in Sheffield, the Police and Ambulance Service, the third sector, and service users and carers through the CCG's 'Involve Me' network and through Healthwatch.

Through enacting our commitments in the local plan we will jointly strive to improve the responsiveness of services along the whole crisis care pathway. The local plan will be updated and re-posted on the national website as actions are completed and new challenges are identified.