Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme
Aiming to improve safety and outcomes of mental health care.
Overview
Reducing the incidence of restrictive practice in inpatient mental health, learning disability and autism services by 25% by September 2023.
Detailed Programme Information
Aiming to improve safety and outcomes of mental health care
Restraints and seclusion are examples of restrictive practices that can sometimes be used on inpatient mental health, learning disability and autism wards when there is an immediate risk of harm to members of staff, the patient or other service users. Although these practices are sometimes the only option to keep everyone safe from harm, being restrained or secluded is generally a negative experience for service users, their families, the staff involved in the restraint, and anyone else who may witness the situation.
Working as part of The Collaborative, the South West AHSN is supporting Mental Health providers to develop a safety and learning culture, build Quality Improvement capability and test ideas to reduce restrictive practices .
Ward teams are using Quality Improvement methods to help them understand and change their ward systems, working ‘upstream’ to encourage more proactive care and reduce situations when restrictive practices become needed.
The Collaborative
The Collaborative aims to improve the quality and safety of services for people with mental health conditions across the South of England through the use of quality improvement methodology.
Led by the West of England AHSN, membership includes the South West AHSN, Kent, Surrey and Sussex AHSN, Oxford AHSN, and 16 mental health trusts across the South of England. The Collaborative acts as the regional delivery vehicle for the Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme, which is commissioned by NHS England and delivered by each of England’s 15 AHSNs.
Together we are creating the conditions for success by:
- Supporting our NHS Mental Health, Autism and Learning Disabilities member organisations to develop a safety and learning culture.
- Building Quality Improvement (QI) capability in members, supporting them from being QI learners to leaders of QI.
- Championing and supporting co-production in QI work in member organisations.
- Creating a network that uses measurement for improvement and learning, applying the Model for Improvement to develop, test and spread new or existing, local and national innovation.
You can follow news and events from The Collaborative on Twitter or by searching the hashtag #TheCollabQI.
For more information about our Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme (MHSIP) work or to find out about joining The Collaborative please contact our Patient Safety team.
