Who are we?
The Mental Health Integrated Access Partnership (IAP) is an award-winning and nationally-recognised endeavour, which is transforming urgent and emergency care services for people in mental health crisis.
In an innovative collaboration between BrisDoc Healthcare Services, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Foundation Trust and South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust – as well as Avon and Somerset Police, Avon Fire and Rescue, and voluntary sector organisations – the IAP provides a truly integrated front door service for urgent and emergency mental health care for people in crisis, across both 999 and 111.
What we do
The IAP comprises a multidisciplinary team of registered, non-registered and operational professionals, who work in rotation across our services, providing both remote and face-to-face mental health triage, assessment and care for patients, as well as clinical support and advice to emergency service professionals. We work tirelessly to get each patient the right care at the right time, providing a seamless, coordinated response that addresses both mental and physical health needs.
Working alongside emergency service, urgent care and voluntary sector colleagues, the IAP provides a range of 24/7 services across the South West, from our sites across Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
Our Services
Our Impact
The impact of the IAP is clear, both in benefits for patients and organisations alike. The full integration of this service means people only need to tell their story once before accessing both mental and physical health services, which is particularly important for people living with multiple health conditions, and supports reducing delays to receiving care.
The IAP ensures ambulances and police officers are stood down, where appropriate, by providing alternative and more appropriate specialist support and signposting. We avoid directing people to emergency departments and deploy our Mental Health Response Vehicles (MHRV) directly to the scene of patients experiencing mental health emergencies. This improves the ability of the system to better respond to patients at a time of significant pressure.
Feedback
We continue to receive positive feedback from patients:
Everyone was really helpful and I felt much better after my call; it’s hard to get the right help in today’s world.
Service development
We are proud of our culture: where the wellbeing and personal and professional success, which enables our team to provide the best care and service for our patients, comes first.
The IAP continues to challenge ourselves, grow and evolve, responding to learning and our community’s needs. This will help to ensure that patients receive urgent and emergency mental health care at the point of contact, with privacy and dignity, and can be safely and efficiently supported.
Awards and recognition
The early impact of the IAP, underpinned by its courageous and pioneering approach to respond to urgent and emergency mental health, has been recognised through a number of national awards, and has been presented as a model of good practice by NHS England.
