Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Older People’s Mental Health service are looking for people over 65 living with mental health problems and their carers to join a new special network to help shape the future services for our ageing population, with the first meeting being held virtually on Tuesday 3 August. 
It is estimated that 25% of people over the age of 65 are affected by depression. Delirium, anxiety, dementia and problems with short and long term memory are also commonly experienced by older people, together with other mental health problems. There are also estimated to be around two million older people providing care to family members, friends and neighbours, which can also be the cause of mental health problems (Age UK 2019)
Given these statistics, we really want to hear from local people to ensure our services truly support people with mental health problems and their families. Their experience and views matter and as we are looking to improve our services we want to make sure our local population are involved at every step of the way. At this first session we will be talking about the dementia and memory services currently on offer by Southern Health and looking to get feedback on these.
Dr Aileen Murray-Gane, Nurse Consultant for Older People’s Mental Health and clinical lead for OMPH transformation is looking forward to hearing from our patients and carers, recognising the value in their involvement “Finding out what is important not only to our patients but their carers as well is vital, we can’t run the service without their feedback and input so this network will provide us with a great forum to all work together and remain focused on what our patients and their carers need and want from our services”.
This network will play a key role in helping us improve our mental health services for older people across Hampshire, it will also serve as a support network for those either living with or caring for others with mental health problems. We will be talking about the dementia and memory services currently on offer by Southern Health and looking to get feedback on these.
We will be hosting our first network event virtually on Tuesday 3 August between 1400-1530 on zoom. Anyone interested in joining please register online shftopmhnetwork.eventbrite.co.uk or calling Karen Bimson on 023 92603267