Perinatal Mental Health Functional Mapping - Health Education England - SoEPS/17.365

NHS South of England Procurement Services, acting on behalf of Health Education England (the Commissioner) are commencing a tender for the delivery of Perinatal Mental Health Functional Mapping.

The perinatal period is commonly defined as the time from when someone is confirmed as being pregnant, to the date of their baby's first birthday.

In mental health services, it can also sometimes include preconception interventions when they relate to a person's childbearing potential.

To identify the best service models on which to create new teams in specialist perinatal mental health, a functional mapping exercise could identify what has to be done to deliver a useable service specification based on the evidence based interventions along the patient journey.

This process will generate an objective description of the pathway using language that allows different workforce options to be explored and compared and from which we can extrapolate the specific competences required, rather than naming roles or professions nominally and based on a traditional skill set or multi-disciplinary format.

A generic health 'functional map' will be developed which incorporates all activities (clinical and non-clinical) that take place within the perinatal mental health pathway, and this will be used as part of the process to help identify the skills and competences required by staff.

This will provide a clear and systematic method of review of skill mix and roles within a service to ensure quality and safety for patients.

This will enable patient focused development of new ways of working, leading to improved efficiency in utilisation of roles.

This will provide Health Education England with the basis for recommending and commissioning work-based and formal academic training where appropriate.

Current practices and use of the workforce will be analysed and constructively challenged.

The key output required is a detailed Functional Map for the perinatal service area which will describe and inform the workforce model for future services.

As the Functional Map is developed, consideration should be given to the skills levels at which the functions indicated in the map need to be delivered to meet quality and productivity expectations.

This process enables objective review of the skill requirements and serves to bring out initial skill mix issues.

Health Education England will then identify the multiple roles and functions staff involved in the care pathway for the perinatal mental health patient journey, and be better informed when developing plans and recommendations for the focus for education and training.

Please access the procurement documents for further information.