Mental Health Recovery and Employment Service (Birmingham)

Mental Health Recovery and Employment services will be combined and provided under one contract as part of an integrated service, which will enable services to work in a co-ordinated fashion.

Whilst a number of definitions of Recovery are available the definition provided by the Centre for Mental Health is used for the purpose of this specification.

A revised or alternative local definition may be adopted going forward: Agency - gaining a sense of control over one's life and one's illness.

Finding personal meaning - an identity which incorporates illness, but retains a positive sense of self.

Opportunity - building a life beyond illness.

Using non-mental health agencies, informal supports and natural social networks to achieve integration and social inclusion.

Hope - believing that one can still pursue one's own hopes and dreams, even with the continuing presence of illness.

Not settling for less, i.e. the reduced expectations of others Whilst the principles of recovery should inform all parts of the mental health system the Recovery and Employment Service will offer a range of practical support to assist individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) on their journey of recovery.

This specification details two core service elements (Recovery Centres and Individual Placement Support).

Whilst these elements are set out separately it is anticipated that they will be provided in an integrated and aligned manner. (A) The Recovery Centre offer will be aligned to the four newly created integrated community mental health services in Birmingham for adults over 25 Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) and the Forward Thinking Birmingham (FTB) community hubs.

The service will offer a 1:1 recovery support planning to include a Personal Health Budget (PHB) function and recovery focused activities based on a Recovery College model and supports the development of peer-led support networks and groups.

The service will use Recovering Quality of Life (ReQoL) assessment framework to monitor individual's recovery.

The brokerage function involves the 1:1 personal support aspect of the service supporting people to plan how their budget could be effectively spent to meet their desired outcomes. (B) A full fidelity Individual Placement Support Service for individuals aged over 18 to be integrated into community mental health services within Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) and Forward Thinking Birmingham (FTB) hubs, partly based on an outcomes based contracting model which will be used to link funding to the achievement of outcomes.

The duration of the contract is 3 years with a 2 year extension option (maximum 5 years).

The contract value over a 3 year period is expected to be circa £5,248,363.01, but may increase to £5,372,972.09 subject to achievement of CQUIN targets.

Should extension option be activated and CQUIN targets achieved then over 5 years maximum contract value could be circa £8,954,953.48.