Mental health quality indicators: background and secondary definitions

4. Process to develop the Quality Indicator profile

The National Mental Health Performance and Indicators Advisory Group ( MHPIAG) developed an initial suite of mental health quality indicators, with agreement that they should:

• be equally categorised across six quality outcomes (Timely, Safe, Person-centred, Effective, Efficient and Equitable)
• apply to all mental health specialties, regardless of age group or subspecialty where possible, with mental health being a broad term used to include conditions like dementia, learning disability, autism, and substance misuse
• encompass services and supports for people with mental health problems widely and not just in health services
• be as important as possible, in terms of the necessity of showing that what we do matters, and in terms of usability and confidence
• be mapped to the quality outcomes (listed above), as well as to national Health and Wellbeing indicators (listed in full in Annex A).

Following these principles, MHPIAG created a draft suite of five QIs for each of the six Quality Outcomes. These were taken to an open national workshop on 21 April 2016 for discussion. Further comments were requested by email from a range of stakeholders, and an expert reference group (Annex B) considered each of the QIs on 7 June 2016.