The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health states that by 2020/21 there will be a doubling in access to individual placement and support (IPS), enabling people with severe mental illness to find and retain employment.

East Midlands Mental Health Clinical Network is facilitating local systems across the East Midlands to improve IPS service provision in line with national targets, which includes working with commissioners, IPS service providers, Department of Work and Pensions, Local Authorities and other partners to implement the IPS Core Principles and develop services that have high compliance with the IPS Fidelity Index.

The network support offer includes:

• Mapping IPS services in the East Midlands to identify current provision and shortfalls, and the gap to ambition
• Supporting CCGs and STPs to develop proposals for IPS Wave 1 and Wave 2 transformation funding to improve and expand IPS services across their locality

For more information regarding the Individual Placement and Support work programme please contact: Dr Ian Rothera, Senior Quality Improvement Manager