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About mental health services


The majority of people with mental health needs are supported by their GP and access to Mental Health services is usually via a GP referral.

“Improved Access to Psychological Therapies” teams offer interventions which are aimed at preventing the need for referrals to secondary mental health services. Referrals can be made from any source including self-referrals: 01473 329100 (Ipswich area) and 01284 733100 (Bury St Edmunds area)

In Suffolk mental health services are delivered by two partnership trusts.

Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Foundation Trust
 Suffolk Mental Health Partnership Trust

  • Suffolk County Council works in partnership with Health to deliver services across the County. The County Council, in the form of Adult and Community Services Directorate is an integrated partnership with Health for all adults from 18-65. Social workers work alongside health professionals in multi-disciplinary community mental health teams.
  • In the SMHP trust area older peoples mental health social workers are co-located with health professional colleagues. There is a specialist social work team dealing with older people in the NWMH trust area.
  • For children (0-18), the Mental Health Trusts’ Children and Adolescent Mental Health teams (CAMHS) work with children and young people and link with the Children and Young People Directorate.
  • There is a specialist team dealing with younger people with dementia.

You may find the information in this leaflet useful:


   suffolkcarersmentalhealt75100  Confidentiality in Mental Health (PDF, 125Kb)


Community Mental Health Teams

The aim of mental health services is to offer community based services wherever possible. Local mental health teams can provide services such as:

  • Crisis resolution and home treatment
  • Early intervention in psychosis
  • Recovery
  • Outreach (for harder to engage people)

There is variation across the County in the detail of service delivery. It will be necessary to check out local arrangements and referral routes via GP practices in the first instance.

Community mental health teams identify and assess needs and specify services to meet those needs. Assessment and care management in mental health services follows national guidance called the Care Programme Approach (CPA). This guidance is under review following recommendation by the DH. The revised policy and practice guidance will be available by 2009 and will replace the existing guidance currently available Care Programme Approach (CPA Policy and Procedures), (PDF, 440Kb)

(CPA) Risk Asessment and Management Guidance, (PDF, 257Kb)

This guidance complements the Care Programme Approach (CPA) Policy and Procedures and is used in conjunction with it by staff. It was written in December 2003 and is also under review.

The purpose of the CPA is to

  • Identify and detail assessed needs
  • Specify the actions and services required to meet those needs
  • Identify the person responsible for each action and
  • Identify relapse warning signs and action to be taken

Most service users worked with by community mental health teams are likely to need an “enhanced” level of support. They are also likely to have a diagnosis of a severe and enduring mental illness such as:

  • Schizophrenia
  • Psychosis
  • Bi polar affective disorder
  • Depression of high severity
  • Personality disorder with severe levels of behavioural dysfunction/subjective distress/clear diagnosis
  • Severe obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Aspergers syndrome with severe levels of behavioural dysfunction and subjective distress
  • Eating disorders which severely affect the patient’s physical health or cause subjective distress.

There are other policies associated with this area of work:
Suffolk Appropriate Adult Scheme Operating Procedures, (PDF, 133Kb)
The operating procedures and practice guidance were written in 2009. They are designed for relevant staff in Adult Services and provide guidance on the carrying out of the role of the Appropriate Adult when individuals with particular needs are arrested and are to be interviewed by the police.

Interpreter's Policy, (PDF, 95Kb) This policy and procedure is guidance concerning the use of interpreters for assessments under the Mental Health Act (1983).

Mental Health Pooled Fund

Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Primary Care Trust and Great Yarmouth and Waveney Primary Care Trust are partners who contribute to a Mental Health Pooled Fund of £4.1m which is used to purchase community mental health services.

The Pooled Fund has awarded new contracts for the provision of community mental health services, which start on the 1 April 2009.

Advocacy is available across the county for people with mental health problems. The contract is with East Suffolk Advocacy Network and anyone with a mental health problem can use the service.

Community Recovery Workers work with adults suffering from mental health problems to enable them to live as independently as possible, take control of their lives and access opportunities that support and maintain recovery. The service is only available to individuals who are referred by secondary mental health services. The contract for Waveney and Mid Suffolk is with Together and with Richmond Fellowship for the rest of the county.

Community Resource Service will promote community participation and offers individuals choice about the type of support available. The service is open to anyone with a mental health problem and the contract across the whole county is with East Suffolk Mind.

Employment Support provides opportunities that help people get back to work or find a job. The contract is with Richmond Fellowship in the Suffolk Coastal and Forest Health areas and with The Shaw Trust in the rest of the county.  The service is only available to individuals who are referred by a secondary mental health service or by their GP

Family Carer services offer specialist support to the carers of people with mental health problems. The service can be accessed by anyone and is delivered by Suffolk Family Carers.

Mental Health Information is available through the Suffolk Library Service. For more information contact Amanda Dunn, Lead Commissioner (Mental Health).

In addition the Pooled Fund offers a range of Supported Housing across the county. For more information see http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/Housing/SupportedHousing

Other useful links:

Mental health