Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust will take over responsibility for the delivery of Herefordshire’s mental health and learning disability services from April 2020.

The decision follows a strengthening of relationships and links across Herefordshire and Worcestershire’s mental health and learning disability teams in recent years and has been agreed by current provider Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and the local Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Since 2015, organisations and services across Herefordshire and Worcestershire have been working in partnership to improve local healthcare services and address known local challenges in a more collaborative and coordinated way. Within mental health services this has led to improvements in the care available to support parents and families across both counties, such as dementia care.

The new arrangement from April 2020 will continue to deliver local services in Herefordshire, and teams are currently working together to transform the support available in the community as one of a handful of national pilots. Staff are also talking to local communities to develop the first joint Herefordshire and Worcestershire Mental Health Strategy which will be published next year.