The Assessment and Outreach Team (AOT) are part of the Ancora CARE Tier 4 service offering bed based (inpatient) and non bed based assessments and interventions.

AOT has three main functions: undertaking access assessments for Tier 4, hospital avoidance interventions and working with young people, families and the wider system to reduce length of stay by offering intensive outreach support to facilitate early discharge from hospital.

The team is a multi-disciplinary team and consist of specialist Tier 4 mental health practitioners, community support workers, allied health professionals, as well as psychiatry and psychology input. The team operates seven days per week from 9.00am to 9.00pm.

Referrals come from our Tier 3 CAMHS colleagues and Mental Health Liaison teams based within the acute hospitals. The person referring the young person makes a referral if they feel that the young person could benefit from a hospital admission or benefit from consultation from Tier 4 practitioners to look at ways of increasing support to avoid hospital admission.

Tier 4 practitioners will arrange with the referrer a time to come and carry out an assessment with the young person and their case manager and parent/carer. Out of hours the senior nurse on the inpatients wards of Coral and Indigo in Ancora House will triage any referrals. Tier 4 access assessments are not undertaken overnight by AOT.

AOT provide the access assessment service for the whole of the Cheshire and Merseyside, including CWP, Merseycare and Alder Hey.

Contact us

Tel: 01244 397333