NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has formally announced Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust as the provider of mental health and learning disability services in the Vale of York for the next five years.

The new service contract, which will begin on 1 October 2015, was developed with partners after a series of in-depth discussions with local service users, members of the community and clinicians through DISCOVER. This extensive engagement programme helped to collect the views of people from across the Vale of York to help develop high quality mental health and learning disability services.

The contract will deliver five key elements of mental health and learning disability services that are based around thirteen guiding principles drawn from conversations with service users and the community including continuity of care, shorter waiting times, and support for carers.

Dr Mark Hayes, the CCG’s Chief Clinical Officer said: “The information provided through the DISCOVER process was rich in personal experience and allowed us to develop emerging themes that will be used to help define the best possible model of care.

“I’m looking forward to working in collaboration with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, service users, their carers, families, the voluntary sector and other statutory providers to deliver integrated services with partners across the Vale of York.

“The continuity of services for patients and staff is of paramount importance to us and to ensure this takes place, the CCG will work closely with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust throughout the life of the contract.”

Martin Barkley, Chief Executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to provide mental health and learning disability services in the Vale of York.

“We are looking forward to working with staff, service users, carers and the local voluntary sector to further improve services; building on what Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have already achieved.”

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