IASPIRE Crisis / Step Down Beds

IASPIRE Crisis / Step Down Beds: residential mental health crisis care

IASPIRE Crisis / Step Down Beds is a nurse-led residential service that supports adults (18 years and over) who are recovering from a mental health crisis, which may have led to short- or long-term hospital care. The organisation presents itself as an alternative to hospital admission and offers intensive 24/7 support and treatment in a residential setting.

The team describes itself as a group of mental health professionals with over twenty years of combined experience in the NHS, covering all aspects of mental health and guided by NHS England values. According to the organisation's own data, to date it has supported more than one hundred service users with varying mental health diagnoses, each receiving person-centred care tailored to their individual needs, beliefs and preferences.

Model of care and clinical continuity

IASPIRE describes itself as a nurse-led service in which all service users maintain regular contact with an experienced mental health clinician specialising in urgent care. As part of this model, service users are routinely risk assessed, have a care plan and are reviewed daily, allowing for early intervention and, according to the organisation, avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions.

Continuity of care is established from the first contact in A&E or on a hospital ward: the mental health practitioners who carry out the assessment then see the service user every day within the establishment. This approach aims to build therapeutic relationships based on trust, respect and stability.

Commitments to service users

The organisation lists a series of commitments aimed at preserving the autonomy and dignity of the people it supports:

• To maximise independence and control over one's own life, enabling and empowering the service user.
• To maintain dignity and privacy, so that personal care tasks are carried out in private rather than having someone else do them for the service user.
• To prevent the loss of skills already acquired and to continue developing new and relevant abilities.
• To address physical and mental health in order to equip the service user with skills that strengthen self-esteem and confidence.
• To prevent loss of autonomy and restore the ability to handle tasks and challenges.
• To preserve personal integrity and prevent isolation or becoming housebound.

Barriers to discharge and coordination with external resources

The service notes that its service users present with diverse and complex diagnoses and situations, including forensic history, no recourse to public funds, asylum and immigration issues, accommodation problems (including no fixed abode or NFA), debt management and benefit and PIP applications. The organisation states that it works to remove these and other barriers in order to facilitate a smooth and speedy move on from the service following the period of crisis intervention, and maintains that resolving these factors helps the service user sustain their independence with confidence once their social stressors have been addressed.

To this end, IASPIRE states that it has built partnerships with various external agencies, including the voluntary sector, with direct links to estate agents, housing associations, solicitors, gyms, community centres, food banks and volunteering programmes for service users who wish to participate in their community.

Holistic approach and support for the service user's environment

The organisation describes a holistic approach encompassing all aspects of the service user's needs. It has a diverse and multicultural team able to work collaboratively with people from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with understanding and respect. The team presents itself as committed to personalised care and to offering support and feedback to friends and family of the person supported.

The stated mission is that the service user is not seen solely by their history, but by what they envision for their future, by how the organisation can contribute to that future, and by offering them a realistic vision of hope.

Contact and access to the service

Interested parties can make enquiries through the contact form on the website, providing name, telephone, email, job title, the organisation they work for (with options NHS, GMMH, local authority or other) and a message. Telephone numbers 0161 758 0136 and 0161 758 0137 are also available, as well as the email info@iaspirecrisisbeds.co.uk.