Sheffield Primary and Community Mental Health Service (PCMH)

Sheffield Primary and Community Mental Health Service (PCMH) is a partnership between Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust and Primary Care Sheffield.

The service is for people over the age of 18 who are living in Sheffield and registered with a Sheffield GP. It is designed to support people with serious and enduring mental illness and other complex needs, whose needs cannot be met by the Sheffield Talking Therapies psychotherapy service, but that do not present the level of need for referral to secondary care services.

Sheffield Primary and Community Mental Health Service aim to see you close to your home and in your local community. The teams are mainly based in the 15 Primary Care Networks which form the GP practices in Sheffield and they see patients mostly in these GP practices or through video or phone calls. In some parts of the city they see people in other community buildings.

The service aims to focus on you as an individual and the physical and mental health needs you may have. They also consider how wider social issues may be impacting on you and your wellbeing as part of this process.

What to expect

Once they have received a request from a health professional (often a GP) they will arrange a call to discuss your needs and expectations. This will be a 30 minute phone call with a qualified member of the team. If you have additional access needs your health professional will let them know.

If the service meets your needs, they will invite you to an assessment and treatment planning appointment. These are held either face to face, over a video call or on the telephone, depending on which option works best for you.

Your treatment plan may include:

• Regular measurements of how you’re doing. This helps to map your recovery journey.
• Advice on your current treatment (including known medication) and things which might complement it.
• One to one sessions with a mental health professional in line with the goals you have set.
• Group work programmes – small groups of six to ten people with mental health professionals on hand.
• Signposting and supporting to access other specialist mental health teams
• Being introduced to wider local services such as voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations who we closely work with and who can support any of your identified social issue needs
• Access to an annual ‘serious mental illness physical health check’ and health coaches

They will support you to focus on your goals and to access your local community resources.

Referral

You could be referred by a different mental health team or following discussion with your GP if they feel this service could help you.

The NHS 111 Mental Health Option, Urgent and Crisis Service and the Sheffield Primary and Community Mental Health Service replace the previous services provided by Single Point of Access (SPA), Emotional Wellbeing Service (EWS) and Out-of-Hours Team.