Mental health services are often seen as the Cinderella in healthcare provision. Although mental health issues are very common, about one in every four people are affected, there is still a great deal of stigma attached to the conditions.

For these reasons, the University of Cambridge and CPFT are proud to part of a new mental health research partnership with a wide range of Cambridgeshire and East Anglian healthcare providers. The Department of Health will part-fund a ‘Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care’ (CLAHRC) through the National Institute for Health Research.

The five-year, £23m centre started work on 1 October 2008 and is led by CPFT. The centre's Director is Professor Peter Jones, from the Department of Psychiatry. The Cambridge centre is one of just nine CLAHRCs set up around the country and the only one that is focussed solely on mental health. The main web site is at www.clahrc-cp.nihr.ac.uk. 

The health and social care providers involved in the collaboration include:

• Cambridgeshire Community Services
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Cambridgeshire
• NHS Peterborough 
• Cambridgeshire County Council
• UKCRN MHRN East Anglia Hub
• East Anglian Primary Care Research Network
• Eastern Region Public Health Observatory

The university departments include:

• Psychiatry (five-star)
• Public health and primary care (five-star)
• Engineering – Engineering Design Centre (five-star)
• Judge Business School

The collaboration is very much focussed on applied research and will test new treatments and new ways of working in specific clinical areas to see if they are effective and appropriate for everyday use in the health service. Where potential improvements are identified, the collaborations will help NHS staff to incorporate them into their everyday working practices, so that patients across the local community receive a better standard of prevention or healthcare.

Much of the research work will concentrate on patient transitions between different health states and different services. The different research and implementation 'themes' that make up the collaboration are as follows:

Achieving public health
Will concentrate on good mental health and how this can be incorporated into health care provision. The theme lead is Carol Brayne, Professor of Public Health.

Process design and implementation
This is about designing care provision to meet the needs of the individual and society. This work will be led by John Clarkson, Professor of Engineering Design in the Engineering Department. The Judge Management School will also be making a substantial contribution to this activity, with a Knowledge Mobilisation strand being led by Dr Michael Barrett.

Mental health needs of children and adolescents
This theme is investigating transitional care in two groups of vulnerable young people:

1. Child and adolescent mental health service users facing either discharge or transition to the adult MH service.

2. Those young people in the care of the local authority facing transition to independent living. It is also looking at improving the diagnosis and referral to specialist treatment of children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders and other problems such as depression. The work is being led by Ian Goodyer, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology.

Mental health and well-being in adults
This theme is seeking to identify those practices in the health service that best support men and women with long-term conditions, such as learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, or disabilities caused by severe head injury that severely compromise their cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. The lead is Tony Holland, Professor in Developmental Psychiatry (learning disability).

Mental health and well-being in old age
This theme will aim to better characterise the mental health of the older population, improve treatment options for older patients and examine issues relating to dying. This work is being led by Dr Tom Dening, Medical Director at CPFT.

The centre will be a true collaborative effort between the service providers and the university. A physical base is being established at Douglas House, Trumpington Road, Cambridge, where both university and NHS staff will co-reside. Researchers will be embedded into service providers and there will be opportunities for NHS staff to be seconded to research.