Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2002): Mental Health Services - UK
ADULT ACUTE INPATIENT CARE PROVISION
Department of Health
[London] : 2002 (Mental health policy implementation guide)
Guidance is based on user and carer feedback, expert professional opinion and good practice. Key targets include development of user-centred services, enhancement of the role and career prospects of inpatient staff, ensuring adequate clinical and support inputs to inpatient wards and maximising time spent by staff therapeutically engaged with patients, and establishment of effective means of service co-ordination.
ANYONE WHO HAS A LIFE
P Bates and others
Mental Health Today, May 2002, p. 21-24
Explores dimensions of social inclusion of people with mental health problems from the perspectives of disability rights, mental health promotion and acute care.
DETAINED PATIENTS WIN RIGHTS CASE
F. Gibb
Times, April 24th 2002, p. 12
A judge has ruled that breaches of the Human Rights Act occurred in seven test cases brought by patients compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act because they did not receive speedy reviews of their detention by independent tribunals. He called on the state to supply sufficient resources for speedy hearings. This ruling could open the floodgates for compensation claims.
(See also Guardian, Apr. 24th 2002, p. 8)
DUAL DIAGNOSIS GOOD PRATICE GUIDE
Department of Health
London: 2002 (Mental health policy implementation guide)
Guide summaries current policy and good practice in the provision of mental health services to people with severe mental health problems and problematic substance misuse. Confirms that treatment of patients with dual diagnosis should be delivered within the mental health services. Mental health services must also work closely with specialist substance misuse services to ensure that care is well co-ordinated.
EVALUATION OF THE INTERACTION OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN SOMERSET : PART I - FINAL RESULTS
P. Guilliver, E Peck and D Towell
MCC : Building Knowledge for Integrated Care, vol. 10, no. 2 April 2002, p. 32-37
A round up of findings from the evaluation of the first fully integrated mental health service in England launched by Somerset Health Authority in April 1999.
NATIONAL MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR GENERAL ADULT SERVICES IN PSYCHIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNITS (PICU) AND LOW SECURE ENVIRONMENTS
Department of Health
London: 2002 (Mental health policy implementation guide)
Standards cover admission criteria, multidisciplinary team working, user and carer involvement, ethnicity, culture and gender issues, liaison with other agencies, clinical audit and monitoring, and the physical environment.
PROFESSIONAL DILEMMA
S. Lawton Smith
Community Care, Apr. 11th - 17th 2002, p. 36-37
There is evidence that community mental health support workers are highly valued by service users. However, they are badly paid and offered little career development. Moves to offer support workers further training and improved status may adversely affect their relationship with clients.