Core mental health standards

10. To deliver this services and teams will

Access

1.8 Produce information in a clear and accessible format on who services are for, what is provided, and who can provide a referral. Information will include contact information, locations, opening hours and how to contact out of hours/emergency care.

1.9 Develop and publish the criteria used to assess needs and use this criteria to prioritise the referrals of those in most need.

1.10 Provide information on other sources of support such as online resources and community resources which will support people waiting. This will include third sector or member-led organisations which support people from different social, economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

1.11 Provide information on how mental health and wellbeing services work together and with other agencies and organisations to improve experiences and outcomes for people using services.

1.12 Work with people who use services to ensure information is easy to understand. Information will be available in people’s preferred languages and will be person-centred, anti-racist, culturally and gender-sensitive, age- appropriate, fully inclusive and in a range of formats e.g. audio or easy read.

1.13 Work to reduce stigma and barriers to accessing support, care and treatment. This will include consideration of inequalities related to cultural, ethnic, and other protected characteristics.

1.14 Have systems to accurately measure waiting times and outcomes for assessment and treatment, and make this information accessible to everyone.

1.15 Where national waiting time targets are in place, in CAMHS and Psychological Therapies services will work to meet these,

1.16 Take steps to measure, identify and rectify unnecessary delays.

Assessment, Care Planning, Treatment and Support

2.12 Ensure that teams provide a wide range of assessments and therapeutic interventions based on needs in their community.

2.13 Ensure that people’s preferences inform how they access services and that services are delivered in an environment which is accessible, safe, and enable effective assessment, care and treatment.

2.14 Ensure mental health and substance use services work together to ensure there are no gaps in access or treatment provision.^[1]

2.15 Routinely measure and report care and treatment outcomes, including service users and carer experience, and use this data to ensure inclusion in service planning and delivery.

2.16 Use demographic data, engagement intelligence, national prevalence rates and data on wider determinants of health to identify groups with poorer mental health and direct resources accordingly.

Moving between and out of services

3.5 Work together to reduce delays in transitions of care. There will be joint processes, appropriate systems and information sharing protocols in place to enable seamless transitions.

3.6 Ensure that if people’s move out of or between services is delayed, this will be recorded, with the reason for the delay made clear. Services will report this through organisational governance such as clinical or care governance processes.

3.7 Effectively communicate to provide co-produced written care plans for transitions between services or discharge from services, detailing how to reengage. Any risks will be clearly identified and documented, and the flexibility of transfer time and handover of care will be considered.

Workforce

4.3 Support the wellbeing and job satisfaction of the workforce.

4.4 Ensure that all staff have access to training and support for trauma-informed practice and will have completed equalities and diversity awareness training.

4.5 Ensure that any assessments or interventions are delivered by staff who have the appropriate skills, training, capability and capacity to fulfil their roles. Where workload tools exist, these must be used.

4.6 Ensure that staffing levels are safe, adequate and compliant with the health and care staffing legislation.

4.7 Ensure there are flexible, healthy, and safe work environments for all staff.

4.8 Ensure all staff have access to continuous professional developmental and learning materials that meet their needs and have protected time to undertake this.

4.9 Ensure clinical supervision and reflective practice is incorporated and adequately resourced into all services as routine practice.

4.10 Ensure leadership of services creates a supportive, collaborative and improvement culture which empowers and enables the workforce to support the implementation of these standards.

Governance and accountability

5.4 Ensure that information on compliments, feedback and complaints processes is easily available and in a clear, easy to understand format.

5.5 Ensure that processes are in place to learn from feedback and complaints and use this information to improve services.

5.6 Ensure senior leaders work collaboratively and a whole-system approach is taken.

5.7 Monitor and report on the standards and embed this in governance processes.

5.8 Work together with scrutiny bodies to provide assurance that standards are met and improvement to the quality of support, care and treatment are made where necessary.