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Mental health services

Ten points for a big difference

Mental health: A year and half after the groundbreaking 10 high-impact changes were published comes a new version specifically for mental health services, writes Jackie Ardley

The author lists the Care Services Improvement Partnership's 10 high-impact changes for mental health services that have the greatest positive impact on service users and carer experience, service delivery, outcomes and staff.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:16

Developing services for the carers of young adults with early-onset psychosis – implementing evidence-based practice on psycho-educational family intervention

This paper describes a series of practice and service development initiatives to incorporate the family-inclusive approach into the newly established Early Intervention in Psychosis Service in Berkshire, England. Following a local study on carers' experiences and needs from those who cared for a young adult with a first-episode psychosis (FEP), a series of flexible services for this group of carers has been developed incorporating the much-researched psycho-educational family interventions.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Breaking the ice: Developing strategies for collaborative working with carers of older people with mental health problems

This chapter reviews a community based action research project undertaken within the Older People's Directorate of Shropshire's Mental Health NHS Trust. The project investigated how statutory bodies might best facilitate the involvement of carers. The work focused on carers of mentally infirm older people and the carers of dementia sufferers. The research sought to explore, and find solutions to, known barriers to participation such as poor communication routes, paternalistic organisation cultures and a non-homogenous user group. It was conducted in three phases.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Piece of my mind

Commissioning mental health is a complex area and expertise is varied. This article explains 'Values based' commissioning, which aims to put users' views at the heart of reshaping services. Values based commissioning aims to take a fresh look at what kind of services should be commissioned and why, with service users and carers working jointly with commissioners to lead commissioning decisions.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Broadening the definition of leadership: active citizens as leaders of change

The term leadership has been often applicable within the work domain, where development programmes are aimed at managers and lead organisations. However the government has recognised that changes in public services require the collaboration of many stakeholders working together in partnership and has placed at the core of its policies the need to include users and carers.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Making a real difference

The National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE) was established in 2002, and from the beginning had a commitment to put people who use services at the centre of their work, and involve service users and carers in the planning and delivery of work. In 2004 the NIMHE executive team conduced a review of service users and carer involvement at all levels within NIMHE, with the aim of identifying what action was needed to develop a more co-ordinated and strategic approach. This article provides a brief overview of the review, its key findings and recommendations.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Evaluating the effectiveness of service user and carer involvement in post qualifying mental health social work education in Scotland : challenges and opportunities

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of user and carer involvement in a new one‐year postgraduate certificate course for Mental Health Officers (MHOs) in Scotland, covering the first year of its delivery (2009‐2010).

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Carers included

The Triangle of Care: Best Practice Guide on Acute Mental Health Care, which promotes the essential three-way relationship between professionals, service users, their carers and families is briefly discussed. The approach was developed by carers and staff who wanted to improve carer engagement in acute inpatient and home treatment services.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Illness careers and continuity of care in mental health services: a qualitative study of service users and carers

Continuity of care is considered by patients and clinicians as an essential feature of good quality care in long-term disorders, yet there is general agreement that it is a complex concept and the lack of clarity in its conceptualisation and operationalisation has been linked to a deficit of user involvement. In this paper we utilise the concept of the ‘patient career’ to frame patient accounts of their experiences of the mental health care system.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:15

Focus group study of service user and carer experience of an integrated care pathway

Integrated care pathways (ICPs) are prearranged processes of care that are being increasingly used to deliver mental health services. The literature to date reveals relatively little about service user and carer experience in relation to their use. This study was completed as part of case study research and focused on the experiences of service users and carers gathered using focus groups, as a unit of analysis.

Thu, 07/20/2017 - 15:14