Mental Health Services

Introducing the Intensive Home Treatment Team

The Intensive Home Treatment Team (IHTT) is operated by the East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership, serving individuals aged between 18 and 64, as well as those over 65 without a diagnosis of dementia.

The IHTT provides high quality, specialist mental health care, treatment and support to adults experiencing an acute mental health crisis or significant deterioration in mental health problems. The team aims to offer early intervention, minimise potential for immediate harm, improve level of functioning, problem solve acute social and interpersonal crisis and provide an alternative to hospital.

What do they do?

The IHTT offers timely and intensive support to address mental health crises.

Here’s how they operate:

1. Provide urgent assessment to patients referred by GPs, Police and SAS.
2. Triage referrals to ensure assessments take place in a timely manner and provide care, treatment and support from admission to IHTT caseload and/or signposting and onward referral to the most appropriate services.
3. Intensive community-based treatment, support, information, education, and/or medicine management in the least restrictive environment.
4. Provide care and treatment in the community, allowing patients to stay at home safely and avoid hospital admission.
5. Facilitate hospital admission where home is no longer a safe option.
6. Minimise the length of stay in hospital by active involvement in discharge planning.
7. Provide support, information and education for relatives and carers.
8. Ensure joined up working in care planning, risk assessment and delivery of care around the needs of the patients and carers.

How to contact IHTT?

• In the first instance: discuss your mental health needs with your GP.  They can then make an onward referral to the IHTT team if required.
• In an emergecy: in urgent situations, you may be referred to IHTT through NHS 24, by calling 111.
• IHTT opening hours: Monday to Friday  9:00am – 5:00pm