NHS mental health boss: Trusts must improve person-centred care

Mental health trusts still have a long way to go in ensuring acute in-patient care services are fully person-centred, an NHS chief has said.

The comment from Steve Shrubb (right), director of the NHS Confederation’s
Mental Health Network, which represents most of the 69 trusts, came after a
Healthcare Commission review said making care more person-centred was
one of four key priorities for acute services.

The review of acute in-patient care for adults judged 39% of England’s 69 NHS trusts as “weak” at involving service users and carers (see graph below).

The review found:

● Half of patient records reflected users’ views, which it said needed to be addressed urgently.

● 16% of care records indicated users had failed to have any one-to-one sessions with nurses in their first week in hospital.

● Nearly a third of records did not state whether or not the service

user had a carer.

Shrubb said the ratings for person-centred care were disappointing. But he added: “This is a snapshot that was taken 12 months ago, and you will find significant improvements in those trusts since then.”

Shrubb said managers were already working to “embed the involvement of service users and carers” in planning, and increasing one-to-one meetings as proposed in the report.

The report also said that overcrowding was a serious problem increasing the risk of violence and aggression.

The Approved Social Worker Leads Network said pressures on bed availability meant that service users were sometimes discharged too early.

Overall, 42% of trusts were rated as good or excellent, but 16% were deemed weak. The worst-performing organisations were more likely to be larger and serving inner-city communities that were relatively deprived.

• Link to the report

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