Out-of-hours mental health drop-in services to launch across Derbyshire

The services will launch later this year with the first, in Buxton, set to open in August. The other two sites – in Ripley and Swadlincote – will open their doors in December.

Derbyshire Mind will lead the Buxton service in partnership with Zink – a local charity based in Buxton which provides support to aid wellbeing in the community.

The out of hours mental health drop-in centres will be open between 6pm and 11pm for a minimum of two or three evenings a week and weekends – depending on local needs.

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They form part of a wider programme of partnership-led work by NHS Derby and Derbyshire’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Joined Up Care Derbyshire. It aims to improve outcomes for people with immediate mental health needs and reduce the need for people to attend emergency departments.

It was recently revealed that Derbyshire Police had seen a huge spike in 999 calls requesting mental health support: there were 1,795 such calls in 2011, compared to a figure of 6,255 in 2021.

Mick Burrows, of NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB, said: “Local people have told us that when they are experiencing urgent mental health needs, it is often out of hours. The kind of support people have asked for is a safe place in the community where they can talk to someone about what is troubling them.

“These drop-in services in Buxton, Ripley and Swadlincote will deliver just that, and will be a genuine alternative to ED/ A and E departments. The drop-in services will complement our 24-hour mental health helpline and are part of a broad set of services that we’re developing to ensure that support is always available when someone is in crisis."

Jenny Ryan, business and operations manager at Derbyshire Mind, is pleased to announce the launch of these new services. She said: “We are very excited about the opportunity to offer safe and welcoming non-clinical alternatives to attending A&E to residents across Derbyshire.

“We are proud of our delivery model that sees us working in partnership with local community organisations, combining the expertise of both our organisations.”

More information will be published in the coming weeks on the Derbyshire Mind website.