CQC says community mental health services must improve

Nearly one in three people with a mental health problem don’t know who to contact if they have a crisis out of hours, according to the Care Quality Commission.

A survey of more than 13,500 people who use community mental health services, carried out by the CQC, found nearly a quarter don’t know who is in charge of their care and only 55 per cent of people said NHS mental health services ‘definitely’ involved their family or someone close to them.

Poor communication was also evident from the survey with regard to medication, with only around half of people prescribed new medicines for their mental health needs saying that they were ‘definitely’ given information about it in a way they could understand.

On the plus side, the survey did find that the majority of staff providing community services ‘definitely’ listened carefully to people receiving services (73 per cent) and ‘always’ treated them with respect and dignity (75 per cent).

Dr Paul Lelliott, the Care Quality Commission’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (lead for mental health) warned services that poor performance on the survey could result in an early inspection and that failure to act on the findings of this survey could affect the ratings they receive from this October.

He said: “It is clear from this survey that many people do not feel well-served by community mental health services. Leaders and staff from mental health trusts should reflect on what they could do differently and better to ensure people are engaged effectively and involved in their care and take action to ensure that people get the help and support they need.

“We have raised this before with mental health trusts, including following last year’s survey. The survey will inform our decisions about when how soon we inspect a trust. We will soon start to rate these mental health services and how well they have responded to the results of this survey will play a part in determining our overall judgment of trusts.”

Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Picker Institute which carried out the survey with the CQC said: “It’s very worrying that one in three people are not told who to contact in a crisis – and that one in five of those who do try to contact someone in a crisis don’t get the help they need. It’s vital that people who need urgent help for mental health conditions can get it; if they don’t the consequences can be truly tragic.”

He added: “We’re calling on mental health providers across England to take a long and careful look at today’s results. Some of the findings may make for uncomfortable reading, but they also point the way making meaningful improvements in the things that matter most to service users. Trusts should work with their local service users to review the survey findings and prioritise changes to improve personal care and support.”

The 2014 survey of people who use community mental health services involved 57 trusts in England that provide mental health services.