A campaign calling for radical changes in the way psychiatric services are provided in Manchester have supported a High Court Application for Judicial review citing “ongoing failure” to involve public in the planning process.

CHARM, the Community for Holistic, Accessible, Rights Based Mental Health was launched in September 2020 as a society, following the concerns they raised about the lack of meaningful consultation and co-production that took place regarding the re-development of Park House as a single site psychiatric hospital. They also challenged the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust’s decisions to build a large psychiatric hospital in Crumpsall.

CHARM is supporting Craig Hamilton, 47, of Hulme, to make the JR application, who they state has been using mental health services for 25 years and is likely to require support from the services subject to redesign for the rest of his life. CHARM states service users expressed their concerns, saying the Trust failed to involve or consult them in the decision making, and were not invited to take part in, or made aware of, the co-design process which took place at events in January and February 2023.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) is proposing to create Living Well Teams, made up of a range of partners providing different services that will bridge the gap between primary (GP and community-based) services and secondary (hospital-based and specialist) services.

The Trust states that co-design, co-production and co-delivery with people with lived experience and their carers are key features of the programme. On Friday 1^st July they held an event ‘to consolidate lived experience engagement and co-production in the GM Community Transformation programme so far.’

Should the JR application proceed to hearing, this may be legally test claims of co-design and co-production, and GMMH will need to provide clear evidence of their engagement activity.