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Frequently asked questions for adults who are already receiving support from mental health services

Specialist mental health services, including Community Mental Health Teams, Home Treatment Teams and inpatient services, have continued to provide support during the COVID-19 pandemic. You will normally need a referral from a healthcare professional to access these services.

The way some of these services are delivered may have changed during the pandemic in order to reduce transmission of the virus and keep you, your loved ones and our staff safe.

Contact

If you are already receiving care from your Health Board’s mental health services, you can expect contact with your care co-ordinator or another professional in the team looking after you to be maintained.

Where safe to do so, you will be given the choice of the type of contact including face-to-face, telephone or video consultations, where available. Your Care and Treatment Plans should be up-to-date, with all the relevant support details along with your personalised crisis plans.

Inpatient services

Our acute inpatient wards are operating as usual. However some restrictions and changes to normal operations have been introduced and these may vary depending on locality. Details of these changes can be found in the links below.

Access to therapeutic interventions

Delivery of therapies that were paused during the initial phase of the pandemic have re-commenced, through video technology, and face-to-face where clinically appropriate.

 

 

Families and carers

The support family and friends provide to someone with a mental health condition is so important and even more so during the COVID pandemic. Supporting someone who has a mental health condition can be difficult for family and friends, but it is important to remember that help and support is available for you. Taking care of your own wellbeing will mean you are better prepared to support someone else with their recovery. It is important you have access to the most up-to -date information and support that may help you to continue your caring/support role at this time.

Carers’ organisations can provide relevant information, advice and support. They can:

  • Provide you with someone to talk to.
  • Inform you of your rights (including advice on welfare benefits).
  • Help to access a carers assessment.
  • Help you develop a plan that supports your needs.
  • Put you in touch with local carers groups so that you can connect with other carers.

It is important that you remember that you are doing your best at this very difficult time, so be kind to yourself.

Yes, the support you provide is so important to that person’s wellbeing and recovery. This is especially important during the COVID pandemic.

Yes – it is still possible to contact healthcare teams directly and it is important that you do so if you have any concerns. However, healthcare professionals cannot usually share confidential information about your relative with you, unless your relative agrees. You can read more about this on Confidentiality and information sharing: For carers, friends and family’.

You and your relative can take steps so professionals can share information with you. Please see the section called ‘What arrangements can I make for the future?’ in the above link.

You will see your relative can sign a consent form to allow you to get information from professionals.

Carers’ organisations can provide relevant information, advice and support. They can:

  • Provide you with someone to talk to.
  • Inform you of your rights (including advice on welfare benefits).
  • Help to access a carers assessment.
  • Help you develop a plan that supports your needs.
  • Put you in touch with local carers groups so that you can connect with other carers.

It is important that you remember that you are doing your best at this very difficult time, so be kind to yourself.

Yes, if this is agreed with the service user/patient and it is considered safe to do so, taking into account COVID-19 infection prevention measures.

You may be offered the use of digital technology to enable you to attend reviews. This includes video consultations via the Attend Anywhere platform, which has recently been rolled out to all Health Boards in Wales.

Your care and treatment plans should detail the contact arrangements agreed with your care coordinator. This involves a two-way approach where you know how and when to contact them, and you agree how often they should contact you.

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