South West London CCG Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21

Across South West London, our collective response to the mental health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been: • Keeping mental health services accessible and trauma-informed. • Continuing to plan for surges in demand. • Supporting primary care to continue delivering good mental health care. • Prioritising our most vulnerable. • Strengthening families, workplaces, communities. • Meeting basic needs. It is important that we ensure people with mental health needs or a learning disability receive the same protection and support with managing their health and wellbeing during the pandemic as other members of the population. The impact of Covid-19 on our communities’ mental wellbeing has been big. In the year since the pandemic began, depression rates have doubled and primary care colleagues are predicting a surge of mental health issues in the future. We also know that Covid-19 is having a disproportionate impact on our people from ethnic minorities. We are continuing our work looking at ways that South West London can respond to any increase in demand for services as a result of the on-going pandemic and as part of our recovery work. This has included virtual consultations for IAPT and the South West London St George’s Recovery College - the UK’s first mental health recovery study and training facility providing a range of courses and resources for service users. We are considering whether the right services are in place to support people with mental health needs or learning disabilities (or both) and transforming services where we need to do more. It will also be very important that we ensure that inequalities for these residents are not worsened as a result of Covid-19. Preventing a Mental Health Crisis - South London Listens NHS South West London CCG has come together with people with lived experiences and partner organisations from across the whole of South London. In July 2020, the South London Mental Health and Community Partnership hosted the Covid-19: Preventing a Mental Health Crisis Summit, which was attended by more than 400 people. Attendees joined expert panels, which included people with lived experiences, clinicians, commissioners, In the year since the pandemic began, depression rates have doubled and primary care colleagues are predicting a surge of mental health issues in the future 36 | NHS South West London Clinical Commissioning Group