Community mental health care services need to improve

Too many people who use community mental health services are not being involved in decisions about their own care.

A national survey of people who received Community mental health services in 58 NHS trusts shows that services need to improve.

About the survey

More than 13,000 people took part in the survey which asked questions about:

• the care provided by outpatient clinics and local teams providing crisis home treatment.
• assertive outreach.
• early intervention for psychosis.
• generic community mental health services.

Find out more about the Community mental health survey 2013.

Care plans and involvement

We are particularly concerned about people’s lack of involvement in their care plans and having their views taken into account when deciding which medication to take.

Of those who have complex mental health needs and require support from multiple agencies, 14 per cent said they did not have an NHS care plan. Of those that did have a care plan, only 46 per cent said they definitely understood it (down from 48 per cent in 2012).

Responses also suggest that:

• some care plans do not explain what people should do if they have a crisis.
• too few people have had a care review meeting in the last twelve months.

David Behan, CQC Chief Executive, said, “It is completely unacceptable that fewer people have adequate care planning than last time we carried out this survey.

“One of CQC’s key objectives this year is to focus on the care being provided to people by mental health services. The results of this survey will help our inspection teams under the Chief Inspector of Hospitals Prof Sir Mike Richards home in on the poorest providers and be able to challenge this poor performance through inspection.”

Find out more

Visit Community mental health survey 2013 for more information.

You can also view the scores that each trust received for this survey in A-Z list of community mental health results by NHS trust.