12 May - Mental Health Network webinar

This week’s session – held during Mental Health Awareness Week – opened with reflections from the group about workforce.

Overheard during the discussion:

“We’re seeing early signs of hope, with recruitment efforts starting to take effect, although there is still a lack of staffing in certain areas. We have been working with refugees on areas that include cultural competence and translation.”

“Bed occupancy has fallen from 102% to 96% and headcount has increased by over 600 full-time equivalents over the past 12 months.”

“Recruitment is still incredibly difficult and there is a need to consider the workforce of the future. The demand in ED is up 150% on pre-pandemic levels.”

One guest spoke about work on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient related experience measures (PREMs). They talked about the reporting of PROMs and PREMs in managerial policy settings and noted the WHO’s definitions for health and mental health, adding: “The EQ5D health questionnaire is likely the most widely used patient related outcome measure tool at clinical interface level and showcases how a patient is feeling and the outcome measures that matter to them. PROs are being created for individual conditions.”

They shared an example PREM, highlighting how the measures allow for a systematic check-in to assess

where a patient is in aggregate form, and asking for the group’s experience of whether this is utilised and reported at board level.

One guest replied: “PREMs are reported in the quality digest. There have been difficulties in moving from

process to impact with regard to clinicians’ focus and referenced the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. A recent priority has been increased use of HoNOS. I think there are too many measures and getting clinicians’ understanding is difficult in a way that is not apparent in acute.”

Also overheard: “There is a greater inclination in mental health to think about intervention impact, but outcomes are harder to measure. Patient stories are being used at board, but this isn’t an effective tracking tool, as it depends on what is selected. Patient stories used at boards also differ - stories in acute are often via patient complaints, to demonstrate where things are going wrong, whereas those in mental health are generally more positive, focusing on service user engagement.”

“I believe there should be equal weight placed on process, satisfaction and outcome.”

“Patient stories are valid but they can skew the picture. It’s better to alternate between patient story, career story and colleague story at board level, to ensure a more rounded picture and allow escalation to the system.”

“I question how something of this nature would be adapted from an ICS perspective to ensure it is meaningful and useful. I’m increasingly concerned about how we will be able to see that the introduction of the ICS has made a meaningful difference to people’s experience and outcomes in the future.”

These meetings are by invitation only. For further details, visit our events page.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about these webinars, please contact: events@good-governance.org.uk