Health and social work services. Health services. Miscellaneous health services. Residential health facilities services. Community health services. Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group is tendering for a Crisis House to provide short term accommodation based support for people aged 18 and over with mental health problems who are in crisis.

The service will be a key service within the crisis pathway in Tower Hamlets, providing an alternative to admission to hospital for clinically appropriate service users in the community, and support to service users being discharged early from hospital, either in the context of a planned step down from hospital, or in the context of social problems contributing towards a delay in discharge.

The service will work very closely with the existing crisis pathway, in particular the Tower Hamlets Home Treatment Team, but also with Community Mental Health Teams, the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Royal London Hospital, and inpatient services at the Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health.

The service will provide a minimum of 10 beds, circa 70% of which will be available for ‘crisis' admissions and circa 30% of which will be available for step down referrals from in-patient services. The service will be provided from suitable premises located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The service will be open 24/7, 365 days a year.

The service will provide person-centred recovery-orientated support in a safe environment, with a range of evidence based psychosocial interventions available to service users. The workforce will be have appropriate skills, knowledge, and personal qualities to work effectively with people in crisis and potentially presenting with risk.

The service will be staffed and run in a manner which is sensitive to the diverse cultural needs of the population of Tower Hamlets.

There is a requirement for clinical services to be provided as part of the service. The provider will ensure that arrangements are in place to secure clinical support for patients and staff at the Crisis House from a suitably qualified provider.

Referrals should be taken from adults of working age resident in Tower Hamlets and should be sourced from a wide range of sources including GPs, secondary care and voluntary sector services. Referrals will be jointly coordinated and assessed by the provider and HTT and may involve other relevant clinical services.

The service will ensure that people over the age of 18 in mental health crisis get the support and services they need at the right time and in the right place, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year where one or more of the following apply:

— Risk factors require urgent/immediate intensive intervention

— Current support needs significantly greater than those usually required by the service user to remain well within the community and usual residence

— Significant risk of deterioration with the risk of hospital admission if not addressed by referrals to short term accommodation and support

— A short term intensive period of treatment is needed to stabilise deteriorating mental health of a service user under the care of a recovery focused service.