Official launch of NAViGO Health and Social Care Community Interest Company

The creation of this new not-for-profit social enterprise to provide mental health services is part of a national government scheme, Right to Request, which means all provider services must split from their commissioners. In North East Lincolnshire this means that mental health services will no longer be provided by the Care Trust Plus.

Kevin Bond, current director of mental health for North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus and chief executive of NAViGO, said “I am very proud of the progress made so far by the mental health services we have developed in North East Lincolnshire. Through the hard work and dedication of our staff these services have become top performers in areas such as in-patient dignity feedback, length of stay and also outperform many others in terms of employment, accommodation and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) through our highly successful Open Minds centres.

“The launch of NAViGO will help us to build on these successes and put more control into the hands of the people who know our services best: our staff and service users/carers through our membership.”

As a social enterprise, NAVIGO will not generate profit for personal gain. Any savings made from doing things more efficiently will be reinvested back into the organisation to help develop and deliver more services.

Social enterprises also give staff a greater reassurance as they have direct ownership of the organisation (as shareholders) and are able to influence the future direction as well as day to day care provision.

The move to social enterprise has been approved by the Care Trust Plus, North East Lincolnshire Council and the Strategic Health Authority.

People who currently use mental health services in North East Lincolnshire will continue to access them for free as NAViGO will be directly commissioned by the NHS.

Mr Bond added: “The launch of NAViGO represents a big change in the way in which local people can influence the mental health services they receive.

“As a social enterprise, the new organisation directly belongs to the staff and local community through our membership.

“The membership is the driving force behind NAViGO and I would encourage people with an interest in mental health to seriously consider joining. The more members we have, the better represented the community will be. We can only carry out the wishes of the community if people help by becoming community members and working with us on what they want.

“We really want to encourage our service users, their carers and families and local people with an interest in mental health to be a part of NAViGO which is why four community representatives, directly elected by the membership, will sit on the membership board alongside four staff representatives and senior managers and head professional staff.”

The NAViGO membership will be able to vote on who represents them on the board, the chair of the board and also the chief executive position (periodically). It will also be able to help determine the future shape of services.

For more information about NAViGO and to download a copy of the membership form, please visit www.navigocare.co.uk (live April1) or email info.navigo@nhs.net