Forensic Outreach Service

The Forensic Outreach Service (FOS) is a branch of the Forensic Community Mental Health Team (FCMHT). The service provides risk assessment, formulation, and management advice to local inpatient and community teams, for service users with enduring mental health conditions who present a risk to others. The team aims to support service users to remain within the least restrictive environment.

The FOS can support inpatient teams with service users whose presentation in the acute setting is putting them at risk of being admitted to secure services. This input may include risk management advice on the ward and working towards safe discharge planning into the community. We also work with community teams to support service users who present with escalating risks.

The multi-disciplinary service includes nurses, clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapist, and psychiatrists. We have close associations with Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC), Lancashire and Cumbria Constabulary, and the Probation Service to support a whole system approach to risk management.

How to access the service

Referrals to the Forensic Outreach Service come through a single point of access (Flow and Capacity Manager, Guild Lodge). Referrals are accepted for service users who are care co-ordinated by teams sitting within the Lancashire and South Cumbria area.

Please contact us to request a referral form.

Referral criteria

Service users must:

• Be 18 years or older
• Diagnosis, or suspected diagnosis, of a severe and enduring mental health condition
• Present with a current or historical significant risk to others
• Have a care coordinator from within Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust