Older People's Community Services

About the service

Our Older People’s Community Mental Health Service supports people aged 65 and over living in Leeds. We also work with adults aged 18 to 65 who need specialist care.

We have four teams across the city who provide home‑based support for people experiencing complex, severe or long‑term mental health problems, including mood disorders, psychosis and dementia.

The service also includes our Memory Assessment Service, which offers assessment, diagnosis and treatment for dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment is when someone has problems with memory, learning new information, concentrating or making everyday decisions.

Our team includes a range of mental health professionals who work together to provide specialist, community‑focused support. Although we usually work with people over 65, this can vary depending on need, and we recognise that many people aged 65 and over have active work and social lives.

Our vision

We work closely with you, your carers and your family to help you reach your potential and live a valued, meaningful and satisfying life.

What we aim to do:

  • Provide a full assessment of your mental health needs
  • Work with you and your carers to create a detailed care plan and crisis plan
  • See or contact you within 15 days of your referral for assessment
  • Support people with complex mental health needs who can be safely cared for in the community
  • Make sure our services are accessible to all communities across Leeds
  • Work in a joined‑up way with other mental health, physical health and social care services in the city

What to expect from our service

We aim to see or have contact with service users within 15 days of referral for an assessment. This could take place in your own home, a clinic setting, a care home, or a community venue, if appropriate.

Members of our team will speak to service users and their carer(s) to better understand:

  • What’s causing the current distress, what’s triggering it and what’s making it worse?
  • What strengths a service user has, and what resources they have around them that could help?

We also look at physical health needs and we may ask other colleagues to support with any needs here. Once we’ve done an assessment, we use a technique called formulation to work out a care plan.

Formulation

Formulation of the service user experience is used to guide the treatment offered by the community mental health service. Formulation is a word we use to describe the bringing together of information gathered during an assessment. It is a series of ideas we might have to describe and understand a service user’s experience.

The formulation will be created and shared with service users (and carers if appropriate) as standard, and will be accessible, easily understood, and be meaningful to the service user.

The formulation will be used to help guide the plan of care and the delivery of any therapies or ‘interventions’. The formulation will be a working document, with new information included when it is identified.

How we can help

Interventions and therapies

Here’s a brief overview of the types of support we may offer you:

  • Reviewing your prescriptions and medicines to make sure they are right for your needs
  • Offering psychological therapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
  • Recommending group psychological therapies if these may benefit you
  • Providing specialist occupational therapy, including support to improve daily living skills, independence and social participation
  • Helping with your diet and nutrition
  • Supporting your physical health, including treating any urgent physical health concerns
  • Giving advice on lifestyle changes, such as increasing physical activity or social connection

If you have been diagnosed with dementia and have already had some initial support from the Memory Assessment Service (MAS), you may be referred to our community mental health team for further help.

We offer a range of interventions for people with mild, moderate or severe dementia, tailored to your needs and designed to support you and those who care for you.

Referral information

This section is for health and care professionals making a referral into our Older People’s Community Mental Health Service.

All referrals should be made through our Single Point of Access (SPA).

We will accept referrals for:

  • Adults aged 65 and over, of any gender, ethnicity, sexuality, culture or physical ability
  • People with substantial and complex mental health needs that cannot be met within Primary Care, NHS Talking Therapies or other community services

The service accepts referrals for people who may have:

  • Mental disorder combined with physical illness or frailty that affects or complicates their mental health
  • Significant cognitive, emotional or behavioural problems linked to a mental health diagnosis
  • A primary dementia diagnosis
  • Psychological or social difficulties related to ageing, end‑of‑life issues, or where needs would be better met by an older people’s service
  • A neurodevelopmental disorder with co‑existing mental illness, where the mental illness is the primary need
  • Complex presentations associated with severe mental illness, including risks such as self‑harm, harm to others, vulnerability or serious self‑neglect
  • People under 65 who have complex physical comorbidities and whose needs are best met by a mental health team with expertise in older people’s care (agreed locally on a case‑by‑case basis)

How to contact our teams

Our Older People’s Community Mental Health Service is based across four locality areas. Each locality has a dedicated Older People’s Community Mental Health Team and a Memory Assessment Service base.

Teams covering South, Southeast Leeds

Aire Court Community Unit
Lingwell Grove
Middleton
Leeds
LS10 4BS
Call: 0113 8550673

Teams covering East, Northeast Leeds

St Mary’s House, North Wing
St Martin’s View
Leeds
LS7 3LA
Call: 0113 8558877

Teams covering West Leeds

St Mary’s Hospital
Green Hill Road
Leeds
LS12 3QE
Call: 0113 8550547

Teams covering North Leeds

Millfield House
Kirk Lane
Yeadon
Leeds
LS19 7LX
Call: 0113 85 59350

Other advice and support

If a health professional has given you a specific phone number to call when you are concerned about your condition or that of a loved one, please continue to use that number.

We recommend the following places where you can find helpful and reliable information with links to further help and support.

  • MindWell website
  • The NHS UK website
  • For less urgent health needs, you should contact your GP or a local pharmacist in the usual way.
  • For immediate, life-threatening emergencies, always call 999.

Please note this is not comprehensive list of services but a few suggestions of how to get started finding help and information.

BACK TO SERVICE DIRECTORY

Page last updated: 24th Mar 2026 2:53pm