South London Mental Health and Community Partnership Annual Review 2023/24

10 and signposting and details for more appropriate mental healthcare support and services where appropriate. Transformation of patient outcomes and experience: NHS 111 for Mental Health is already receiving more than 2,000 calls a month. More than 60% of people have had no previous contact with NHS mental health services, and with 95% of calls answered inside a minute, it is helping more people get the urgent support they need, sooner. Key presenting conditions are panic attacks or anxiety, suicidal ideation, and depression, Immediate specialist advice and guidance has been given to some 36% of callers, with the remainder referred to other services as their next step, after conversations with the call handlers. The service can also book people directly into GP appointment slots, and dispatch ambulances – significant innovation to ensure people get the right care, more quickly. From its launch to end of the 2023-24 year, the NHS Police Mental Health Clinical Advice Line service had already transformed support for vulnerable people experiencing mental health crisis. Outcomes for the period to end of March 2024 included a 38% reduction in Police- accompanied Emergency Department attendances, and a 27% reduction in Section 136 detentions. Police forces reported a 32% reduction in officers’ time attending incidents too. The service is showing its value as officers are calling for wide-ranging mental health advice, and it has received double the expected volume of calls. Our cross-sector partnership has saved time and resources, as well as providing better urgent and crisis care at people’s time of greatest need.