London Mental Health Crisis Hubs Evaluation

In February 2022 NHS England & NHS Improvement (London Region) and the London Urgent Care Board commissioned the Health Innovation Network (HIN) to evaluate NHS mental health crisis hub models in London.

To mitigate the infection risk posed to people attending Emergency Departments (EDs) during the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health trusts in London rapidly established mental health crisis hubs for people with mental health needs to be assessed in spaces separate from ED. The aim of the evaluation was to:

• Gain a better understanding of the different mental health crisis hub models that are still in operation and their potential impact at a service user, carer, practitioner, and service-level within London.
• Determine what factors affect the implementation and sustainability of NHS mental health crisis hubs.
• Determine the principles or core components of effective mental health crisis pathways (as an alternative to ED) for Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

A steering group consisting of three experts by experience (two service users and one carer), representatives from all nine London mental health trusts, the London Ambulance Service (LAS), the London Metropolitan Police (Met Police), Emergency Departments (ED), and NHSEI London also guided and advised the evaluation. This mixed-methods evaluation utilised a range of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.

The evaluation design was directly informed by the London Mental Health Crisis Hub Assessment Framework. This assessment framework was developed in 2020, specifically for mental health crisis hubs in London, to provide a minimum dataset to support monitoring and evaluation activities against six key quality domains of:

• Safe
• Timely
• Effective
• Efficient
• Equitable
• Patient Centred

The evaluation report completed in October 2022 , contains detailed quantitive and qualitative data and twenty two recommendations to inform the core components of an effective NHS mental health crisis hub. For more information, get in touch with the HIN team.