Older Adult Home Treatment Team launches in Brent

CNWL has opened a new service in Brent to help older adults, who are in or at risk of crisis relating to their mental health, to remain in the least restrictive setting to meet their needs.

The Older Adult Home Treatment Team, which opened for patients on Monday 15 November, provides intensive home treatment for older adults at their preferred place and facilitates early discharge from hospital, as soon as it is clinically safe to do so. This is achieved through prompt and expert assessment, intensive treatment and care.

On Thursday 2 December, a formal celebration of the launch took place at Fairfields House, where Brent’s Home Treatment team is based. Colleagues were invited to attend virtually or in person, with Covid secure measures in place. There were also sandwiches, cake and many, many balloons!

Gloria Achiekwelu, Team Manager, hosted the launch praising the collaborative effort of mental health, primary care and social care teams, as well as transformation colleagues.

Gloria, said “Mental health crisis can happen at any time in people’s lives. We are now in a position in Brent to support older people experiencing mental health crisis in their home environment, with family, carers and familiar things around them. We can support psychiatric liaison and our inpatient wards facilitate early discharge of patients. With intensive support at home, we can prevent unnecessary hospital admission.”

Left to right: Bosam Onyema, Operational Manager for CMHT & Brent Memory Service, Anthonia Egbufor, Staff Nurse (OA HTT), Gloria Achiekwelu, Team Manager (OA HTT), Flora Onyedinma, Clinical Lead (OA-HTT), Dr Anand Ramakrishnan, Consultant Psychiatrist (OA-HTT), Filipa dos Santos, RAD Staff Nurse (OA-HTT)

Matthew Henshaw, Deputy Borough Director, and Dr Anand Ramakrishnan, Consultant Psychiatrist for Brent OA HTT, were also there to celebrate the new service. The latter said: “this is a wonderful opportunity to rededicate ourselves to older adults. Let’s all now work together to ensure positive outcomes for people in Brent.”

Dr Kemi Akanle, Brent Borough Clinical Director, was invited to say a few words before cutting the celebratory cake. Kemi, said “This has been a gap in the system for a very long time and the team has worked tirelessly to bring this service to fruition.”

Full details on opening times, who the service is for, and how to make a referral can be found on the service page by following this link.