Prospex system maps mental health trends

Derbyshire Mental Health Services Trust has selected Prospex from Beacon Dodsworth to map mental health trends in the East Midlands and improve social marketing.

With a catchment area of approximately 990,000 people (one in four of whom will experience mental healthcare needs and one of seven of whom will require admission for serious mental healthcare), Derbyshire Mental Health Services Trust wanted to be more proactive in analysing its catchment, understanding the local community's mental healthcare needs and providing the necessary comprehensive resources for patients, carers and families.

With Prospex, the geographical information system (GIS) from Beacon Dodsworth, the Trust is able to map locations of current Trust properties across the East Midlands and identify trends and hotspots in mental health issues in relation to the locality of patients to Trust properties, services and employees.

By plotting Trust locations and analysing these against patient data, their referral location and their degree of mental illness, patterns and densities can be established and evaluated.

These patterns help plot mental health inequalities in terms of geography (where no services, facilities or resources are available to a particular ward or postcode) and in terms of individuals (where access to services may be restricted for certain groups of people - particularly black and ethnic minority communities including those of Irish and Mediterranean origin, and Eastern European migrants).

This not only allows the Trust to target resources better by providing relevant help and literature to areas identified as most at risk from substance misuse or violence for example, but also allows the Trust to better plan for future build locations, service provisions and resource allocation leading to better administration and routing of referrals in line with the NHS operating framework.

'As Prospex gives a visual illustration of the services the Trust provides over a set period of time, it is much more compelling than a simple spreadsheet or graph,' said Gemma Fleming, estates strategy project officer at Derbyshire Mental Health Services Trust.

'The ability to map patient activity and employee locality to identify areas where team bases may need to be relocated saves both time and money and ultimately allows the Trust to provide a better level of customer service,' she added.

In short, Prospex assists the Trust in making difficult decisions about investment priorities for mental health and the reconfiguration and redesign of existing provision to ensure continued financial viability while maintaining the standard and quality of mental health services.

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