Independent Evaluation of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Alternatives to Crisis Programme

NHS England have provided funding to develop community-based crisis support services across England. This forms part of the NHS’s Long Term Plan to provide more suitable alternatives to A&E for people experiencing mental health crisis who do not require medical attention. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (HIOW ICB) have invested the funding in several local Alternatives to Crisis (A to C) services to support people aged 18 years and over. These include:

• Safe Havens (remote and in person drop-in services), 
• A crisis house (providing short stay accommodation and support). 

These services aim to: 

• Offer timely support in a safe environment to reduce emotional and psychological distress, 
• Provide short-term emotional and practical help to enable people to manage their mental health crisis more effectively, and 
• Signpost people onto appropriate services for ongoing support. 
• They do not, however, offer a ‘Place of Safety’ for Mental Health Act Assessments.

HIOW ICB have commissioned Wessex AHSN to independently evaluate nine of these new A to C services. The evaluation will bring together a broad range of data sources, including feedback collected from the people who use the services, A&E attendance data, emergency response data, and data collected by the services. HIOW ICB are keen to understand what impact the services are having, and whether the services are in the right place to enable easy access for people who need them. The findings from the evaluation will help to inform future commissioning decisions.

The evaluation report is due in November 2023 and will be shared on this website. 

Evaluation Lead: Katherine Gale (Programme Manager (Mental Health), Wessex AHSN)

Evaluation Advisor: Jackie Chandler (Evaluation Programme Manager (Qualitative), Wessex AHSN)

Evaluation Advisor: Sarah Curtis (Lived Experience Lead, HIOW ICB)

Programme Commissioning Lead: Sonya Mclean (Senior Programme Manager, Mental Health Crisis Care, HIOW ICB)

HIOW ICB Project Lead: Saskia Sheehan (Project Manager – Mental Health Team, HIOW ICB)