Mental health services

Increasingly there is greater emphasis on user/carer involvement in the delivery of mental health care. There are five levels of participation from none at all to partnership and optimal involvement. A two-year pilot steering group was established by a health authority in December 2000 and criteria for independent evaluation agreed. These included the context, data collection, analysis and report, and recommendations based on the findings to increase user/carer involvement in all aspects of mental health service delivery.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a mental health carers’ research reference group on mental health research in the Heart of England region. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology was a co-produced participatory evaluation, and the research was co-produced by the group. The design involved a literature review of carers’ involvement in UK mental health research, and collection of secondary data (group records) and primary data from researchers, group members, and facilitators. Analysis was initially thematic, then synthesised.

‘This leaflet is about confidentiality issues which arise between mental health professionals and carers of adults with mental health problems, in particular those who provide on-going help and support, without payment, to a relative, partner or friend.

The issues of confidentiality and information-sharing between mental health professionals and carers are difficult and complex to resolve. Some of these problems are described, together with examples of good practice which may help address them.’