News


New £15m scheme to support those ‘in crisis’


The Department of Health says the £15 m fund it launched late last year to better support people at risk of experiencing a mental health crisis – the ‘Beyond Places of Safety’ scheme – will improve support services for those needing urgent and emergency mental healthcare, including for conditions such as psychosis, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders that could cause people to be a risk to themselves or others.


The Department said the scheme would focus on:


l Preventing people from reaching crisis point in the first place.


l Helping to develop new approaches to support those who experience a mental health crisis.


Jackie Doyle-Price, Minister for Mental Health, added: “There can be few experiences more frightening and disorientating than a mental health crisis, and I commend the teams already providing brilliant support with help from our previous grant scheme. This additional funding will


give local areas scope to do even more. I look forward to seeing lots of innovative ideas for improving urgent and emergency mental healthcare countrywide.”


The launch of the latest fund follows a £15 million investment in the initiative’s predecessor, the ‘Improving Places of Safety’ scheme, which ran over 2015/16 and 2016/17, and aimed to reduce the number of people ending up in a police cell following detention under the Mental Health Act – by improving health-based ‘places of safety’ for those experiencing a crisis.


Chair for clients with limited mobility


Safety ‘the number one focus’


‘Safety is the number one focus’ at a new £7.2 m, 26-bedded acute adult inpatient mental health unit, Manannan Court, recently completed on the Isle of Man, says Teal Furniture, which has supplied the facility with a range of specialist furniture – including chairs, tables, and sofas. The purpose-built inpatient unit was designed by local architect, Niall McGarrigle, and Chorley-based architects, Gilling Dodd, to UK Department of Health (UK) standards, to increase local capacity to care for adult acute mental health patients. It will provide help for those with mental health issues, learning difficulties, and alcohol and drug addictions,


while addressing the Government priority to protect the most vulnerable in society. Teal Furniture items supplied – all designed to the latest safety standards – include sofas and armchairs featuring ‘extreme use’ boarded plywood panels and non-retractable security screws. Teal’s Roku tub chairs, with their flowing design, meanwhile, are difficult to pick up, with rounded corners and heavy weighting to 50 kg to limit misuse, increase stability, and maximise safety. The client also specified Teal’s ‘unique’ ‘Plus+’ complete upholstery for all upholstery; it features sewn-in sealed seams to prevent concealment and facilitate cleaning.


Anti-ligature TV cabinet and noticeboard


Tough Furniture has responded to ‘growing awareness of the importance of reducing ligature risk in all areas of secure mental health environments, and not just service- users’ bedrooms’, by introducing a wall- mounted TV protection cabinet, the ALTV, which ‘combines an elegant, non-intrusive appearance with practical risk reduction through its signature sloping top and bottom design’.


A further addition to Tough Furniture’s


‘roster’ of anti-ligature furniture for shared spaces is a ‘unique’ new Anti-Ligature Noticeboard (ALNB). The company said: “Constructed from solid 50 mm ash, the sloping top, bottom, and sides, help the ALNB to not only look good on the wall, but can also help lower the ligature risk in any environment when compared with standard noticeboards. All the usual Tough Furniture


robustness and security features are built in – with dovetail-reinforced mitre joints, a specially produced heavy-duty strip hinge, 6 mm polycarbonate door, and 9 mm solid Sundeala board for the pinboard backing. There are also no externally visible fittings.


Healthcare furniture manufacturer, Pineapple Contracts, has launched a new addition to its award-winning Ryno range in response to customer feedback. The company said: “By combining a tactile, organic style and therapeutic colours with heavy weighting and extreme durability, the range has established itself as a transformative tool for humanising demanding environments worldwide.”


The latest addition – the Ryno tub chair – follows the same design ethos, but incorporates comfortable armrests which wrap around to create a supportive backrest. The absence of handles or other lifting points, and the heavily weighted design (75 kg as standard, with a lightweight model also available) make the chair difficult to pick up or throw. If required, products can be linked together or securely fixed to the floor with heavy duty steel brackets and anti-tamper fixings. There is a choice of 11 chair colours, together with an optional seat pad, ‘available in hundreds of shades’. The water-resistant, UV-stabilised material makes the non- upholstered version suitable for outdoor use. Jayne Shawcross, Pineapple Contracts’ head of Marketing, said: “Following customer feedback, we wanted to create a version of the Ryno chair offering more support for clients with limited mobility. The tub chair’s arms and heavyweight design provide real confidence when sitting and standing, which both helps to preserve independence and boosts staff safety.”


THE NETWORK JANUARY 2018 7


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