Annual report 2012-13 - West London Mental Health NHS Trust

Setting the pace on qualityStrategic aim: continuous improvement of quality and productivityThe trust is constantly striving to improve the services we provideand promote good practice in mental health care. This meansinnovating and using all our resources, including technology andresearch. And it means engaging with other partners to contributeto and benefit from national developments in mental health care.Improving access to therapy“The therapy works as an accelerator in thehealing process. I’ve stopped worrying about thethings I cannot change and learned to acceptthem.” That was the feedback from Douglas,who uses one of the trust’s three ImprovingAccess to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.IAPT is a national initiative introduced in 2008 tomake psychological treatments for people withdepression and anxiety disorders more readilyavailable. There is evidence that IAPT services arecontributing to real improvements in the lives ofpeople with anxiety and depression, with recoveryrates nationally in excess of 45%.Ruth Dennis, who manages the Hammersmith& Fulham service, explains: “Service users tellus that they value the flexible way we provideour services, either in person, over the phoneand even by computer. We provide treatment attimes and in places to suit services users. Theycan refer themselves rather than going througha GP, which helps cut down on waiting timesand the need for health professionals to spendtime on referrals.”People can sign up to the online Buddy tool,a text messaging service which enables usersto keep a diary, helping them to identify whattriggers certain moods and figure out their owncoping mechanisms.The service has also joined up with employeesupport agencies to provide employment advicefor service users who need it and the serviceoffers other benefits through its relationshipwith mental health charity MIND.Harnessing technologyfor better patient careThe trust’s IT team is helping to improve clinicalinformation sharing between mental health cliniciansand GPs in Hounslow. SystemOne allows a linkbetween the clinicians and the GP’s patients system.Not only will this improve communicationsbetween professionals equally engaged inimproving a patients’ health; the system willenable them to send messages, and it will flag upany alerts.After the pilot phase, the system will be extendedto the adult community assessment and recoveryteams and to A&E.Patients receiving a service from the local servicescan get automated text reminders one week and,again, one day in advance of their appointment.This has already proved effective in reducingnon-attendance to appointments which is verycostly to us.The service allows for two-way communicationbetween the service user and the trust contactcentre so that the service user can text back aresponse to confirm, cancel, or reschedule.Clinical auditOne way we check on the quality of care isthrough the National Clinical Audit and PatientOutcomes Programme (NCAPOP). This nationalproject collects data on a particular area of carewith the aim of ensuring that all patients receivethe most effective, up-to-date and appropriatetreatment, delivered by clinicians with the rightskills and experience.The trust’s commitment to this performancemonitoring can be seen by the fact that during2012-13 we participated in all the nationalclinical audits we were eligible for. We alsotook part in the 2012 National ConfidentialEnquiry in suicide and homicide by people withmental health illness. Like the audit, the aimis to detect areas for improvement and makerecommendations, but confidential enquiriesgo further than audit, with each case criticallyreviewed by a team of experts to see whetherclinical standards were met, and whether theright clinical decisions were made.We reviewed the reports of six national clinicalaudits in 2012/13. The actions we have drawnup as a result can be seen in full on our website.Medical director, Dr Nick Broughton said: “Theseclose looks at our work help us see what weare doing well and just as important, where weneed to improve. They are an invaluable way ofhelping to make our services better.”“These close looks at ourwork help us see what weare doing well and just asimportant, where we needto improve. They are aninvaluable way of helping tomake our services better.“Dr Nick Broughton, medical director18Annual Report 2012/201319