A paper said that the government should extend its payment by results system to mental health services - but with caution. A major programme of work was needed to ensure the potential benefits of the system in mental health services outweighed the risks.
Source: Payment by Results: What does it mean for mental health?, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: SCMH press release
Date: 2004-Dec
A review of the literature on delayed hospital discharges and mental health raised concerns about the feasibility of reimbursement. Although a significant number of people experienced delayed discharges from acute psychiatric services, the task of defining delayed discharges was complex and subjective, dependent on the professional background and seniority of the person making the judgement. Reasons behind delayed discharges were also multi-factorial in nature and could not be attributed to social services departments alone.
Source: Jon Glasby and Helen Lester, 'Delayed hospital discharge and mental health: The policy implications of recent research', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 38 Issue 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Dec
An annual review was published of the Scottish programme for improving mental health and well-being, setting out progress made over the previous year.
Source: National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being: Annual Review 2003-2004, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2004-Dec
A progress report was published by the National Director for Mental Health on mental health services in England. It said that suicide rates were at their lowest recorded level; most users of services reported that their experience of mental healthcare had been positive; and staff numbers had substantially increased. The government announced an extra 30 million capital funding for psychiatric intensive care units.
Source: Louis Appleby, The National Service Framework for Mental Health: Five Years On, Department of Health (08701 555455) | Press release 20 December 2004, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: Report (pdf) | DH press release | NHS Confed press release | SANE press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Dec
A series of articles examined service-user involvement in mental health.
Source: Journal of Mental Health, Volume 13 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Dec
A report was published of 270 notifications of, and 122 visits to, children and adolescents detained under the Mental Health Act on adult psychiatric wards, including key findings, recommendations and guidance.
Source: Safeguarding Children and Adolescents Detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 on Adult Psychiatric Wards, Mental Health Act Commission (0115 943 7100)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Dec
A report examined the provision of mental health services for children and young people. It made a series of recommendations to government and other agencies, aimed at plugging the gaps and ensuring that children facing the most complex and damaging problems had access to the support they needed.
Source: Carole Easton and J. Carpentieri, Can I Talk to You Again?: Restoring the emotional and mental well-being of children and young people, Childline (020 7650 3444)
Links: Report (pdf) | Childline press release
Date: 2004-Nov
A guide was published on ethical practice for research from the perspective of mental health service users and survivors.
Source: Alison Faulkner, The Ethics of Survivor Research: Guidelines for the ethical conduct of research carried out by mental health service users and survivors, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Nov
A paper said that a new practice-based commissioning scheme in the National Health Service could lead to cost considerations taking precedence over quality or patient choice - in particular to the detriment of mental health services.
Source: Alan Cohen, Practice-Based Commissioning in the NHS: The implications for mental health, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report (pdf) | SCMH press release
Date: 2004-Nov
A think-tank paper examined how changes in government policy and broader social trends had affected mental health issues. Despite additional funding and activity, there was a widespread sense of unease that improvements were not happening fast enough, and not making a real difference to the lives of service users.
Source: Jennifer Rankin, Developments and Trends in Mental Health Policy, Working Paper 1, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2004-Oct
A survey highlighted 'woeful' hospital conditions endured by a high proportion of mental health inpatients. These included mixed-sex accommodation, harassment and abuse, insufficient staffing levels, and intense boredom on untherapeutic wards.
Source: Ward Watch, Mind (020 8519 2122)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Mind press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
Campaigners said that the national service framework for mental health needed a major acceleration if the aspirations behind it were to be met, five years after its launch. They identified unsatisfactory progress in six out of seven standards.
Source: Press release 29 September 2004, Mind (020 8519 2122)
Links: Mind press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
The government published a national service framework for children, young people and maternity services, designed to ensure that all children and young people received health and social care services that were age-appropriate and accessible, and recognized their needs as different.
Source: National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Framework (pdf links) | Summary (pdf) | DH press release | HDA press release | Healthcare Commission press release | NHS Confederation press release | RCPsych press release | CSCI press release | ADSS press release | NYA press release | NCH press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Sep
The healthcare regulator said that many National Health Service patients were not involved enough in decisions about their care, and so could not give meaningful consent to treatment. Over 300,000 patients were asked about their experiences in 568 English NHS trusts. Individual surveys covered the ambulance service, young hospital patients (under 18 years), the mental health service, adult inpatients, and patients in primary care trusts. Campaigners said that a high proportion of people with mental health problems faced 'unsafe, un-therapeutic' conditions in hospital, and were often treated with little respect or dignity by health professionals.
Source: Patient Survey Report 2004: Overview, Healthcare Commission (020 7448 9200) | Press release 4 August 2004, Mind (020 8519 2122)
Links: Overview report (pdf) | Pdf links to individual survey results | King's Fund press release | Mind press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Aug
A study sought to assess the full service and cost implications of community care for people who moved from long-stay psychiatric hospitals, and the associations between costs and people's characteristics, needs and outcomes. Most people lived in staffed accommodation supported by a range of community-based services. Mean community care costs ( 555 per week) were lower than long-stay hospital residence. There was no evidence to suggest the reduction in costs was a response to reductions in user needs.
Source: Jennifer Beecham et al., 'Twelve years on: service use and costs for people with mental health problems who left psychiatric hospital', Journal of Mental Health, Volume 13 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Aug
The government announced details of proposed changes in arm's-length bodies in the National Health Service, including the abolition and merger of a number of bodies. The Mental Health Act Commission would be abolished, and its functions transferred to the Healthcare Commission.
Source: Reconfiguring the Department of Health's Arm's Length Bodies, Department of Health (08701 555455) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 22 July 2004, columns 73-77WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Hansard | DH press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The new health service inspectorate published annual performance ratings for National Health Service trusts in England, for 2003-04. More than a third of mental health trusts still had only one star or less. The percentage of trusts with no stars for mental health had more than doubled in a year. The inspectorate said the performance of mental health trusts remained 'a cause for concern'. Mental health campaigners accused the government of allowing one of its own healthcare priorities to 'slip off the radar'.
Source: Press release 21 July 2004, Healthcare Commission (020 7448 9200) | Press release 20 July 2004, Mind (020 8519 2122)
Links: Healthcare Commission press release | Performance ratings webpage | Mind press release | Rethink press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Jul
A report examined the communication needs of patients detained in Wales under the Mental Health Act 1983, and how well the relevant agencies responded to them.
Source: Chris Perring and Catherine McQuade, Expression of Choice: The communication needs of patients detained in Wales under the Mental Health Act (1983), Mental Health Act Commission (0115 943 7100)
Links: Report (pdf) | WAG press release
Date: 2004-Jun
A report examined the integration of assessment and care management in mental health services for older people. It included a review of policy in the area.
Source: Jayne Lingard and Alisoun Milne, Integrating Older People s Mental Health Services: Community mental health teams for older people, National Institute for Mental Health in England (0113 254 5000)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
The National Institute for Mental Health in England published a five-year plan aimed at tackling the problems of discrimination against those suffering from mental ill-health.
Source: From Here to Equality: A strategic plan to tackle stigma and discrimination on mental health grounds, 2004-2009, National Institute for Mental Health in England (0113 254 5000)
Links: Plan (pdf) | Summary | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Jun
Researchers interviewed patients detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 about their experiences, particularly focusing on the issue of being granted leave from hospital.
Source: Geraint Rees and Rachel Waters, Lost and Locked In: Patients' perspectives on leave under section 37/4, Mental Health Foundation (020 7802 0300)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
A new book said that in-patient and residential mental health services were 'under-managed, under-researched and neglected'. There was a need to promote in-patient settings as part of the cure for mental health problems, rather than as part of the problem.
Source: Penelope Campling, Steffan Davies and Graeme Farquharson (eds.), From Toxic Institutions to Therapeutic Environments: Residential settings in mental health services, Royal College of Psychiatrists, available from Gaskell Publishing (020 7235 2351)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-May
A report reviewed the responsibilities of the psychiatric profession in the prevention, recognition, assessment and treatment of child maltreatment.
Source: Child Abuse and Neglect: The role of mental health services, Royal College of Psychiatrists (020 7235 2351)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2004-Apr
Researchers looked at the involvement in risk assessment and management of mental health service users considered by professionals to pose a potential risk to other people. They found that service user involvement was variable, and depended upon individual professional initiative.
Source: Joan Langan and Vivien Lindow, Living with Risk: Mental health service user involvement in risk assessment and management, Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: JRF Findings 414 | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Apr
The government reportedly decided that all National Health Service psychiatrists and mental health nurses should be put through a national retraining programme to root out racist attitudes.
Source: The Guardian, 27 April 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A report said that government mental health reforms that concentrated on the young and the most acutely ill had left behind a generation of people whose condition was medically stable but who had a very poor quality of life.
Source: Lost and Found: Voices from the forgotten generation, Rethink (formerly National Schizophrenia Fellowship) (020 7330 9100)
Links: Report (pdf) | Rethink press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A report revealed that, despite some 650 national strategies, guidelines, frameworks and protocols issued by the government in the previous five years, much still needed to be done to improve the 'harrowing conditions' under which people with acute psychiatric illness were treated in hospital.
Source: Behind Closed Doors: The current state and future vision of acute mental health care in the UK, Rethink (formerly National Schizophrenia Fellowship) (020 7330 9100) with SANE and Zito Trust
Links: Report (pdf) | Rethink press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A new book reviewed current research on mental health services for children from minority ethnic backgrounds. It argued that the delivery of effective services could be achieved only by recognising the diversity of cultures and individual needs of minority groups, and encouraging more communication between service providers.
Source: Mhemooda Malek and Carol Joughin (eds.), Mental Health Services for Minority Ethnic Children and Adolescents, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Apr
A report compared the requirements of the government s mental health policy implementation guide with the reality of what was happening on the ground. It illustrated both the benefits and the difficulties of establishing assertive outreach and crisis resolution teams.
Source: Anne Chisholm and Richard Ford, Transforming Mental Health Care: Assertive outreach and crisis resolution in practice, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8352) and National Institute for Mental Health in England
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Apr
A report described what social care and health partnerships in England had achieved in promoting and supporting mental well-being. It described a 'mixed' picture, of change, some real achievement, and of areas requiring much more work. It said the use of direct payments in supporting the independence of mental health service users and their carers was very under-developed.
Source: Diana Robbins, Treated as People: An overview of mental health services from a social care perspective 2002-2004, Social Services Inspectorate/Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Mar
An enquiry into the death of a black mental patient found that there was evidence of institutional racism within the health authority concerned. The government refused to accept this, although it admitted there was unacceptable discrimination.
Source: Independent Inquiry into the Death of David Bennett, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority (01223 597500) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 12 February 2004, columns 77-78WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Hansard | RCPsych press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | RCPsych press release | Rethink press release | SCMH press release | Mind press release
Date: 2004-Feb
A report examined the extent to which modern mental health systems were responding to service users as parents, and working in partnership with other agencies and groups who had a role in ensuring children's well-being and healthy emotional development. Within adult mental health services, it was found that the children of service users were not routinely assessed or offered any planned, purposeful therapeutic intervention , even though there was a wealth of evidence to suggest children could be adversely affected by a parent s mental ill health.
Source: Tony Gillam, Marie Crofts, Gr inne Fadden and Keren Corbett, The Interfaces Project Report: Exploring the links between mental health services for children, adults and families, National Institute for Mental Health in England (0113 254 5000)
Links: Report (Word file)
Date: 2004-Jan