Mental health lifeline set for summer launch in Blackpool

The Initial Response Service offered by Lancashire Care is already up and running in some parts of Lancashire where it is receiving up to 168 calls a day.

Its aim is to offer a round-the-clock telephone service to assess people’s needs on the spot using a team of trained call handlers backed up by mental health clinicians.

Callers will be able to access immediate help either at the end of the line or in person, book appointments or just get advice.

It is hoped the system will direct people straight to the suppor they need rather than leave them “bouncing around” between different services.

Around 60 call handlers are being recruited to run the scheme from a base in Blackpool, with the service available for all Fylde coast residents.

Louise Giles, deputy director of care at Lancashire Care, told a meeting of Blackpool Council’s adult social care and health scrutiny committee the proposal had emerged from recommendations made by a review in 2018 aimed at improving mental health services.

She said: “We were finding patients were bouncing from team to team, they would be assessed and then reassessed by another team.”

Ms Giles said the aim of the Initial Response Service would be to have “one point of access for both urgent care and routine support”.

The service will be open to all age groups with people able to contact it using a free phone number with calls answered within 20 seconds.

Councillors welcomed the proposals but questioned whether the service would be robust enough to handle Blackpool’s higher than average levels of poor mental health.

Coun Gerard Walsh said: “This is something we need. Blackpool is an area that leads most of the wrong tables when it comes to addiction, alcohol misuse or mental health.”

Coun Michele Scott also welcomed the proposal, but warned measures needed to be in place to ensure callers did not “swamp services”.

Ms Giles said a huge amount of research and engagement had gone into setting up the service which recognised the needs of Blackpool including that “a lot of calls will be out or hours”.

It was agreed to get further updates ahead of the service launch expected to be in June, in order to learn from areas where the phone line is already in place “so we get the best possible service for Blackpool.”

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