To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Trieste model of mental health care delivery; and how his Department could help local communities transition towards it.

The vision for community mental health services in England has similarities with the model developed in Trieste, particularly around offering holistic, person-centred care and building partnerships between mental health services and voluntary and social enterprises. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we will invest an additional £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness by 2023/24. This will allow 370,000 adults and older adults with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities.

‘The Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults’, published in 2019, describes the Long Term Plan’s vision for a place-based community mental health model and how community services should transform, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/community-mental-health-framework-for-adults-and-older-adults.pdf

These models will be fully integrated across primary and community mental health services and centred around Primary Care Networks. This will deliver improved access to psychological therapies, improved physical health care, employment support, personalised and trauma informed care, medicines management and support for self-harm and co-existing substance use.