MINT Teams: community based mental health hubs

Bristol Inner City & East MINT:
Phone: 0117 450 3620

Bristol North MINT:
Phone: 01179 192340

Bristol South MINT:
Phone: 01275 335311

North Somerset MINT:
Phone: 01934 836410

South Gloucestershire MINT:
Phone: 0117 3787960

Office hours are Monday to Friday 8am-6pm.

Out of hours call will be diverted to the relevant on call team.

MINT is BNSSG's place-based model for community mental health care. It was designed to organise services around the needs of people and communities, making it easier to access the right support at the right time.

Six locality-based MINT Hubs bring together NHS, VCSE, local authority and lived experience partners to create a "team around me" approach. This enables people to access clinical, psychological, social and wellbeing support through a single integrated team.

Rooted in local neighbourhoods, MINT Hubs help people access the full range of support available in their communities, including health services, social care, housing, employment support and wellbeing activities.

The Community Mental Health Programme in BNSSG was shaped by extensive engagement with more than 1,000 local people, carers, professionals and community organisations.

MINT has been developed in direct response to this feedback. By bringing services together within local hubs, MINT aims to simplify access to support, reduce duplication, and provide more coordinated, person-centred care. As a result, people can expect:

• More joined-up support across primary care, secondary mental health services, social care and VCSE partners.
• Fewer assessments, reducing the need to repeat their story to different services.
• Earlier access to support, helping to prevent problems from escalating.
• Improved access to wider support, e.g. housing, employment, benefits and debt advice.
• More equitable access to services and improved experiences and outcomes.

MINT Hubs support people through a personalised and joined-up approach. This includes:

• Initial contact: Following a referral, the hub will contact the person to arrange an appointment.
• Support Conversation: A MINT Link Worker will work with the person to understand what matters most to them, including their needs, strengths and goals. Together they will develop a Personalised Wellbeing Plan.
• Joined-up support: The person will be connected to the most appropriate combination of clinical, psychological, social and wellbeing support, delivered through the MINT Hub and community partners.
• Reviewing progress: MINT uses patient-reported outcome measures, including DIALOG, to understand people's experiences, outcomes and any ongoing unmet needs.

Each MINT Hub includes staff from a range of organisations, including:

• Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP), including Hub Managers, psychologists, mental health clinicians and administrators.
• Local authority staff, including social workers.
• VCSE partners, including Recovery Navigators, Youth Transition Workers and Individual Placement and Support (IPS) leads.

MINT is a partnership model and is not owned by any single organisation. Hubs are overseen collaboratively by GPs, AWP, ICB, VCSE partners, local authorities and lived experience representatives through quarterly service review meetings.

MINT is available to people who:

• Are aged 18 and over.
• Are registered with a GP practice in Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire.

MINT also provides transition support for young people moving from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) into adult mental health services.

• Adults can access MINT through a referral from their GP.
• Referrals should be made using the AWP referral form / EMIS template.
• Patients can also self-refer by contacting their local MINT Hub.

Further details on referrals are below:

Routine (4 weeks)

Please complete the referral form (also available as an EMIS template) and email this to the appropriate MINT inbox (details below).

Urgent (72 hours)

Please telephone the appropriate MINT Hub to discuss the patient's presentation, level of risk, urgency, and the most appropriate next steps with a clinician.

Following discussion, please complete the referral form (also available as an EMIS template) and send to the MINT email address. Any necessary clinical action will not be delayed while the written referral is being completed and submitted.

Bristol Inner City & East MINT:
Phone: 0117 450 3620

Bristol North MINT:
Phone: 01179 192340

Bristol South MINT:
Phone: 01275 335311

North Somerset MINT:
Phone: 01934 836410

South Gloucestershire MINT:
Phone: 0117 3787960

Emergency (4 hours)

4-hour referrals need to be telephoned through to the correct area IST (Crisis teams):

Crisis Team	Phone number
Bristol Central Crisis	01173 547257
Bristol North Crisis	01173 546606
Bristol South Crisis	01275 796209
North Somerset Intensive	01934 836497
South Gloucestershire Intensive	0117 3784250

 

Advice and guidance

If professionals would like advice and guidance to help identify the right pathway for their patient, they may consider joining a Shared Case Discussion meeting. These are regular multi-disciplinary and person-centred discussions for professionals seeking guidance about a patient with complex mental health needs.

To discuss a patient, professionals need to email their local MINT with a Case Discussion Form (on Remedy) to outline a patient’s needs, what matters to them, and record their consent to be discussed.

Practitioners should attend the meeting, or send a deputy, to present the case for discussion.

For advice and guidance about referrals, medication or risk, please contact MINTs via the email addresses or phone numbers listed above.