Welcome to the Intensive Community Service (ICS)

Welcome to the Intensive Community Service (ICS)

Your local ICS team is: South (SSE) ICS Aire Court Lingwell Grove Middleton Leeds LS10 4BS 0113 8550730 0113 8550731 East (ENE) ICS St. Mary s House St. Mary s Road Leeds LS7 3JX 0113 8552409 Opening hours Monday - Sunday 8am - 9pm This leaflet provides a brief introduction to the service and tells you what to expect while you are with us. If you have any questions please ask a member of the team. West (WNW) ICS Hawthorn House St. Mary s Hospital Green Hill Road Leeds LS12 3QE 0113 8555192

What is an Intensive Community Service? The Intensive Community Service (ICS) provides intensive short-term crisis support for people experiencing severe mental health problems who would otherwise be in hospital. We provide a service seven days a week between 8am and 9pm, to either help you avoid hospital or, if you are already in hospital, to support your discharge as soon as possible. We also support leave from hospital if your hospital team are unsure how you will cope at home. This helps you to retain your home life without the disruption of being in hospital. We will support your recovery through individual home based treatment or through an acute group work programme held at the Trust. We call this home based treatment and group or unit based treatment. The person that refers you to ICS will recommend the type of treatment they think you need. We will then continuously review this with you. Due to the crisis nature of the service, some people will only require our intensive support and interventions for a few days, and others for two to three weeks. We will be working with you from the beginning to plan and review your length of stay within the service so there should be no uncertainty when it comes to transfer back to community support. Who are we? The Intensive Community Service is a team of nurses, occupational therapists, health support workers, doctors, pharmacy staff and an administrator. The team is often referred to as a multi-disciplinary team or MDT. As an NHS teaching trust we also have nursing, medical and occupational therapy students on placement at ICS. We are keen for them to have a positive learning experience which may include time observing and participating in clinical interventions under supervision. If you do not wish to have students involved in any area of your care and treatment please inform your allocated worker. Staff will always ask you in the first instance about student participation and ask for your consent. What do we provide? The MDT meets daily to ensure you get the support you need and have the right recovery plan. They will also review your progress. You will be allocated a key worker and a key working team and you will meet with them to develop your recovery plan. We will ask you to share your

thoughts with your key worker team regularly about the treatment that you feel works best for you and how you feel this is going. Your recovery plan At your first meeting with ICS staff, either in your home or at the unit, we will discuss your needs with you and we will explain what the service can offer. We call this meeting an initial engagement. This is an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about the service and to identify your support needs. Following this, the same member of staff will complete a recovery plan based on the discussion and a copy of this will be given to you. Your key worker team may complete a weekly planner with you to plan visits and other therapeutic activities to help you structure your time. On occasion, your key worker may recommend a combination of both home and group based treatment. Home based treatment Home based treatment is intensive, short-term support in your own home. You will be visited by a member of the team who will offer you 1:1 support and interventions based on your agreed recovery plan. You can expect home visits to be predominantly from staff in your key worker team. You may also be visited by a doctor from our team if needed as part of your recovery plan. You will be offered evidencebased interventions tailored to your needs and recovery plan to help you understand your illness and to learn new and positive coping strategies to help you in your recovery. We may also prescribe medication for you and will help you to manage this. Home visits will be planned with you and are available during our opening hours. At each visit, we will book your next contact ensuring you are visited by the same involved staff, and we may ring the office during the visit to check availability. Unit based treatment Group or unit based treatment is primarily offered within our buildings. We offer an intensive, short-term group programme with an extensive menu of therapeutic groups. We will recommend you attend specific sessions as part of your recovery plan. The group menu is displayed in our buildings (and also later in this leaflet). There is information available about what to expect from groups or you can ask a member of staff for more information. Your participation in groups will help you understand mental health issues, and may help prevent future similar episodes. You will also be able to obtain support

from other people and learn new and positive coping strategies to help you in your recovery. We may also recommend that you attend the unit so we can monitor certain medications, or in situations where it may be difficult for you to remain at home during the day. Sometimes a more intense period away from home may be needed for a short period of time. Getting to the unit As part of your recovery we encourage you to travel to the unit independently. ICS staff can provide information about buses to and from our units, and if it is identified as one of your needs, support through graded exposure can be offered. If using public transport is too difficult, there may also be times when staff can provide lifts in the unit car at agreed times of the day. We can reimburse you if you use the buses by covering the cost of an off peak day-rider ticket on receiving a valid bus ticket as proof of purchase. Private taxis can be used if this is your preference, and up to 4 per day can be provided by the service when you supply us with a valid taxi receipt. If you choose to get a lift in a relative or friend s car, or if you drive yourself if you feel safe to do so, then fuel costs can be reimbursed. In exceptional circumstances, ICS staff may arrange a Trust taxi for you if this is an identified intervention for you, and unit based attendance is considered your best treatment option. If this is the case this will have to be agreed by your key worker team, and this will be reviewed at least weekly. There is an information board in the main ICS area displaying information regarding bus times and routes as well as local taxi companies. Medication When you first meet ICS staff it is helpful to show your worker a list of your prescribed medication. We will also contact your GP and/or local pharmacy on your behalf to let them know that our service is providing short-term support to you. We may provide you with medication from our pharmacy if changes are made to your medication to help with your mental health. Some people may continue to receive a prescription from their GP and collect their own medication. Please inform a member of staff if you are buying any additional over the counter medication. We have a pharmacist who works with our team and if you would like to arrange a time to meet with them or speak over the phone please discuss this with your key worker team.

Spiritual and cultural needs Whatever your spiritual or religious beliefs, the team will ensure you are treated with respect; this includes acknowledgement of any faith or belief you may hold. The Department of Spiritual and Pastoral Care will arrange for you to be visited by a representative of your faith or community if you wish. Please discuss this with your key worker team. Groups and Interventions Menu at ICS Goal setting Understanding depression Moving on Relaxation/walking Hearing voices Recovery planning Healthy living Anxiety management Maintaining roles Promoting sleep Dialectic behavioural therapy (DBT) Managing crisis Creative group Pharmacy talk Managing negative thoughts Your views Building self-esteem Planning for transfer and moving on from the service If it is felt that you require further support in the community after you are discharged from ICS, then you will be allocated a care co-ordinator from the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). This person may be a nurse or occupational therapist and they will maintain contact with you in ICS. They will help you to continue your recovery when you leave ICS. If it is agreed that you do not need this level of support, ICS staff will transfer you to your primary care provider. Your key worker team and your care co-ordinator will work with you as soon as you come into our service to prepare you for transfer into the community. When you leave ICS you may have a Care Programme Approach (CPA) meeting. This provides you with an opportunity to fully contribute to, and plan, further identified needs and how these can be addressed when you leave ICS. You can invite family and carers to this meeting if you wish. Comments, compliments and complaints Please talk to us about your experience of our service so we are able to acknowledge good practice or improve if necessary.

Most concerns or complaints can be resolved quickly by talking to a member of the team, however if you are not satisfied with the outcome please discuss this with the Clinical Leads in ICS. If you still feel the issue is not resolved you can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS is a confidential and free service and can be used by anyone who wants more information about services provided by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. PALS can also give you help and advice regarding a complaint. If PALS is unable to help you they will help you to find out who can. You can contact them on 0800 052 5790. Alternatively you can make a complaint directly to the Trust s Complaints Department. Please address this to the Complaints Manager at 2150 Century Way, Thorpe Park, Leeds, LS15 8ZB. Some useful numbers NHS 111 Service 111 Samaritans 116 123 Saneline 0300 304 7000 Connect Helpline 0808 800 1212 Leeds Mind 0113 305 5800 Leeds Carers Centre 0113 246 8338 Touchstone 0113 271 8277 Dial House 0113 260 9328 Crisis Team 0300 300 1485

ICS interventions at a glance Tick as required 1:1 emotional support Group work Intensive assessment Support with medication Medication education Anxiety management Relaxation techniques Relapse prevention Managing low mood Coping with crisis Recovery from acute illness Early discharge from hospital Dialectic behaviour therapy Stress tolerance Improving self care Health promotion Promoting independence Support with hearing voices Carer support Referrals to specialist service Ref: 16/0333