Evaluation of the Primary Care Mental Health Specialist role: Final Report

This report details an evaluation to assess the impact of the new primary care mental health specialist (PCMHS) role in Kent and Medway. The evaluation was undertaken by the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) at the University of Kent and was conducted June 2013 to December 2014. The evaluation was commissioned by NHS Kent and Medway and supported by Kent and Medway Commissioning Support.

The evaluation encompasses six CCG areas across Kent and Medway, with 13 PCMHS employed in these areas (see Table 1-1 for breakdown). The number of posts per CCG is dependent on the amount CCGs invest (roughly equating to population size), rather than prevalence of illness. The PCMHS have been seconded from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) for the duration of the pilot, and are either community psychiatric nurses (CPN) or occupational therapists (OT) by profession. The majority of PCMHS are hosted by a voluntary organisation (mcch); three are hosted by GP practices and two by a community Interest Company, Invicta CIC.

The main objectives of the evaluation are:

1. To assess the impact on patients by capturing their experience of the service;

2. To assess the impact by capturing experiences of those delivering the service (i.e., PCMHS);

3. To assess the impact by capturing experiences of other professions who work alongside the service (i.e., mental health professionals in secondary care, GPs);

4. To assess the economic cost of the new service via a unit cost analysis.