Coronavirus Service Updates

Solar has been working in Solihull to try and create one central place where parents and carers can get information and support about the transition back to school.

This collaborative document, covers all support available nationally and locally, followed a page containing the contacts for the specialist services available (dependent upon need). 

During the current pandemic we are still open and continuing to provide care to all our young people. 

The team can be contacted Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm on 0121 301 2750.The out of hours crisis contact is available 7 days a week between 8am-8pm on 0121 301 5500. 

Families maybe worrying about transitions post-lockdown but rest assured we are working together across Solihull with our partner agencies to make sure we are prepared for ‘end of lockdown’ and particularly when children return to school. 

In the meantime, if families need someone to contact about these specific worries Solihull Community Educational Psychology team are providing a free telephone consultation service for any parents/carers. They can call the helpline direct on 0121 779 1734. 

If children and young people do require mental health support, we are providing video and phone calls routinely and children and young people can access Solar without getting referred. Families can call us directly or fill in the ‘self-referral’ form on our website: https://www.bsmhft.nhs.uk/our-services/solar-youth-services/  

COVID-19 (also known as Coronavirus) is a new illness that can affect your lungs and airways. Our service will continue to support you as the NHS responds to this new illness.

The current advice is that you should stay at home for 7 days if you have COVID-19 symptoms (a fever and/or a new, continuous cough). If you have symptoms, to protect yourself and others, please do not go to a GP surgery, hospital, mental health centre or pharmacy. Use the NHS 111 service (https://111.nhs.uk/COVID-19/) if you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, your condition gets worse or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days.

We need to change the way in which we support patients who are under the care of our team. Currently psychotherapy assessments are suspended but we will be in touch with you when we are able to resume this work. During this period if your mental health needs are urgent please contact your mental health resource centre on the duty number. Your psychiatric team will continue to support you. Telephone consultations with individuals in on going psychotherapy treatment will replace face to face appointments. So, if you have a forthcoming appointment with the Specialist Psychotherapies service, we will contact you in order to proceed with telephone interventions. It may be possible to use video consultations in future. You will be informed when this is in place.

Additional Support

We will continue to work alongside our partners from other agencies and organisations that provide valuable assistance to our patients. For example, some offer help with benefits, housing and employment. Please follow this link https://www.thewaitingroom.org/ to see the full range of support available.

Contacting us

It is vital that we have up to date contact details for you. We are trying to make it as easy as possible for you to continue your therapy and be supported during this period. You can continue to call our team on 0121 301 3800 between 09.00 – 17.00.

If you want more information about COVID-19 please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-COVID-19/

COVID-19 is a new illness that can affect your lungs and airways. It's caused by a virus called coronavirus. Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms – these are;

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure yourtemperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse thanusual)
• Do not go to your Mental Health Team, GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Current NHS guidance states
• if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you'll need to stay at home for 7days
• if you live with someone who has symptoms, you'll need to stay at home for 14 days from the day the first person in the home started havingsymptoms.

Changes we need to make

Given the very significant challenges the NHS now face we need to change the way in which we support service users who are under the care of our teams. Telephone consultations with individuals will generally replace face to face appointments. So, if you have a forthcoming appointment at one of our centres, we will contact you to replace this with a telephone conversation. If your mental health needs are urgent in nature, we can still offer you a “normal” face to face appointment but please note our capacity to offer this is considerably reduced.

We hope also to use video consultations in the near future (this will require you to have access to a smartphone). When we do plan to visit you at home, you will be called in advance in order to check that you will be home and that you (or any member of your family/household) aren't suffering from symptoms of COVID-19. If you do have symptoms of COVID-19 we will still visit you at home if that is needed but will take the necessary precautions to do so as advised by the Department of Health.

Medication

We will ensure that you can continue to access the medication that you need and our prescribing, or in some cases supply of medication will be largely unchanged. If you are going to run out of medication, please let us know as soon as possible. If you are on depot (by injection) medication or require regular blood tests these will continue. Our staff may need to wear gloves, aprons and masks to do this safely.

Additional Support

We will continue to work alongside our partners from other agencies and organisations that provide valuable assistance to our Service Users. For example, some offer help with benefits, housing and employment. Please follow this link https://www.thewaitingroom.org/ to see the full range of support available.

Contacting Us

It is vital that we have up to date contact details for you and your carer, if you have one. We are trying to make it as easy as possible to contact us during this period. You can continue to call our teams on the usual numbers during normal working hours.

If you want more information and the very latest guidance about COVID-19 please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Covid -19 (also known as coronavirus) is a new illness that can affect your lungs and airways - and this is how the home treatment team will continue to support you as the NHS responds to this new illness.

The current government advice is that everyone should stay at home unless shopping for basic necessities, taking one form of exercise per day, attending to any medical need (or to provide care or help to a vulnerable person) or travelling to and from work (but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home). If you have symptoms (a high temperature and/or a new, continuous cough) you should self-isolate and stay at home for 7 days. If you live with someone who has symptoms, you will need to isolate for 14 days from the day their symptoms started.

There is further information about isolation at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid- 19/selfisolation-advice/ Use the NHS 111 service (https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/) if you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home or your condition gets worse.

Home Visits/Consultations

Due to the current situation, we have changed the way in which we support service users who are under the care of the home treatment team. We are now using some or all of the following methods:

• Face-to-face consultations in the home or in acentre
• Video consultations (this will require you to have access to a smartphone or a computer with a camera)
• Telephone consultations When we do plan to visit you at home, you will be called in advance in order to check that you will be home and that you are not suffering from symptoms of Covid-19. If you do have symptoms of Covid-19 we will still visit you at home if that is needed but will take the necessary precautions to do so as advised by the Department of Health. These may include wearing protective equipment such as a mask, gown andgloves.

Medication

We will ensure that you can continue to access the medication that you need. We will use the following methods:

• Dropping off medication directly toyou
• Dropping off a prescription toyou
• Dropping off a prescription to a localpharmacy
• Asking your GP to prescribemedication

If you are going to run out of medication, please let us know as soon as possible.

Useful resources

This is a challenging time and it is important to take care of your mental health. The following websites have useful information about how to keep on top of your mental wellbeing.

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips/ https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-staying-at-hometips/

Contacting us

It is vital that we have up to date contact details for you and your carer, if you have one. You can continue to call the home treatment team on the usual number you have been given in normal working hours or via our main switchboard on 0121-301-5500 during evenings and weekends.

If you want more information about Covid-19 please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Unfortunately, due to social distancing measures being introduced to reduce the spread of Coronavirus we have had to postpone our group meetings and new assessment appointments at this current time.

If you have been recommended for the next available ‘Mood on Track’ course, which is a group programme run by the Bipolar Service, please be assured that your name will remain on the list of people awaiting assessment and your referral to the service will remain open. We will send you an appointment as soon as restrictions are no longer in place.

You will remain under the care of your current Community Mental Health Team and should contact them as you usually would if you have any concerns about your mental health.

If you already have had an assessment we will contact you once the restrictions are lifted to inform you when the group meetings will take place.

If you have any questions or would like to contact us please call us on 0121 301 3370 or email mds.bsmhft@nhs.net

As you will be aware, we are currently experiencing a Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are trying to reduce the risk of our patients, their families and staff contracting the virus and we are making sure that patients remain safe in our care.

As a service we will be continuing to have contact with you and provide a service. We have a number of ways in which we can offer appointments, including over the telephone and by video call (through the use of accuRx). The person you usually meet with from the CTS will be in contact with you, if they haven’t been already, to discuss how best to proceed in the current circumstances. We will work with you to accommodate your preferences and personalcircumstances.

We are also available in the usual ways, over the telephone (0121 3012280) and email (bsmhft.cts.team@nhs.net). We continue to be contactable between the hours of 0900 and 1700, Monday to Friday.

As you are aware, if you need to contact someone out of our working hours, the following are 24-hour helplines:

• Mental Health Matters 0300 3230139
• Combat Stress 0800 1381619
• Samaritans 116123

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Birmingham Healthy Minds is open and encouraging people to access talking therapies

Whilst our phone lines 0121 301 2525 open from 9.30 am to 16.30 pm excluding Bank Holidays and weekends.

Our online webform on our website www.birminghamhealthyminds.org is the easiest and fastest way to refer yourself to the service.

We have adapted our interventions as per national guidance to deliver interventions remotely using telephone and videoconferencing.

We do ask that you are able to speak to us from a confidential space and free from distractions, where possible and you can request appointments for a time that suits you.

However, due to Covid19 guidelines, we are currently unable to see people face to face and some of our groups/workshops/walk-ins are closed until further notice.