The future of mental health care will be the focus in Sheffield this week (12 February 2020) as health workers from the mental health sector come together to focus on the future.

Sheffield has been chosen to host the NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC) Mental Health Network’s national conference as the city is leading the way in bringing together primary and community mental health care, which is one of the priorities in the NHS Long Term Plan.

The vision is that in the next few years physical and mental health care will be more closely connected and there will be better support for people with mental health problems including employment support, personalised and trauma informed care and medicines management.

Dr Steve Thomas, Sheffield GP and Clinical Director for Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Dementia at NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group said, “We are delighted to be holding this conference in Sheffield to highlight the work taking place in the city and see how we can further improve mental health care, support and treatment in the future.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health and we want the people of Sheffield to live well and have easy access to the right mental health services if they need them. We are working closely with Sheffield City Council, our NHS partners and the voluntary sector to better connect mental health services across the NHS and this will be the main thread through the conference.”

Dr Phil Moore, Chair of the Mental Health Commissioners Network at NHSCC, said, “I am very excited about holding this national event in Sheffield and offering members the opportunity to hear directly how the CCG is working with the Council to improve mental health services across the city.

“We are using our national events to get out into the regions and showcase how different systems are implementing the mental health deliverables from the NHS Long Term Plan. The aim is to help us learn from each other and ultimately commission high quality mental health services for our local populations.”

Other topics being discussed at the conference include suicide prevention, residential care, preventing illness and promoting wellbeing.

This is one of a series of national events that NHS Clinical Commissioners are holding around the country to highlight how cities are transforming their mental health services as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

The event takes place on 12 February 2020 at Sheffield Town Hall.