Profiling mental health service use in the Square Mile. A report to the City of London Local Involvement Network.

This research study contacted a total of fifty-nine (n=59) respondents (including service providers, purchasers and/or commissioners) who were asked to give relevant information on service use by Square Mile residents or workforce. Contact for similar purposes was made with twenty (n=20) senior personnel from twenty (n=20) City-based financial sector businesses and with eleven (n=11) staff from eleven (n=11) churches also based within the Square Mile. Ninety (n=90) providers were found to be commissioned to provide mental health and related services for the residents and workforce within the Square Mile. However, many services were geographically located and delivered outside of the City i.e. extramurally,as were many related stakeholder engagement events. An example of this extrinsic approach was the ‘Have Your Say!’ flyer from the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELNHSFT), urging Square Mile service users to engage in the Trust’s 2011 Annual Plan consultation events (see Appendix One). However, no events were held in the City for them. They could exercise their rights to engage with their service providers only by travelling to events held in Hackney or Tower Hamlets. This distancing in both service provision and engagement is a recurring phenomenon in this study, and one apparently unique to City residents – residents in other localities receive many more of their services and consultations where they actually live.

Voluntary Action Westminster has given the researcher/author written permission to upload the PDF of this document in the research archive of the researcher/author's employing university.