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  • HSIB: Care delivery within community mental health teams (23 March 2023)


    • UK
    • Investigations
    • Pre-existing
    • Original author
    • No
    • Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch
    • 23/03/23
    • Everyone

    Summary

    This investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) aimed to support improvements in the work of community mental health teams (CMHTs). Specifically, the investigation looked at the following four areas:

    1. assessing a patient’s risk of self-harm or suicide
    2. considering menopause as a risk factor for mental health conditions
    3. engaging with families
    4. caring for people with a first episode of psychosis.

    Reference event

    Ms A was 56 years old when she came into contact with mental health services for the first time in September 2019, following a suicide attempt. Ms A spent a month in hospital, and was then discharged home under the care of a community mental health team (CMHT) with a diagnosis of psychotic depression.

    At the end of May 2020, Ms A was again admitted to hospital following a second suicide attempt. She again stayed in the hospital for about four weeks before being discharged home under the care of a CMHT.

    Ms A was seen by CMHT workers regularly throughout July, and had a telephone review with a consultant psychiatrist.

    At the end of July, Ms A’s family became increasingly concerned about her mental state and were unable to make contact with her. On 2 August, Ms A was found deceased at home having died by suicide.

    Content

    Findings

    • While national guidance says that a patient’s risk of harm should not be stratified into categories such as high, medium or low, such stratification remains common in many trusts. This is because other methods of assessing and documenting risk are not available, and because staff fear being blamed if a patient comes to harm without a risk assessment, including risk stratification, having been completed.
    • Current research only demonstrates a link between menopause and low mood, and not between menopause and more severe mental health symptoms.
    • Women are frequently prescribed antidepressant medication when hormone replacement therapy may be a more appropriate treatment for their symptoms.
    • Menopause is not routinely considered as a contributing factor in women with low mood who are assessed by mental health services, and staff do not receive training in this area as standard.
    • While there is a significant amount of national guidance relating to family engagement when treating patients with mental health conditions, mental health practitioners often find it difficult to know how and when to engage with families with complicated relationships or when the patient withdraws their consent for information sharing. There is a lack of training in this area to support staff with decision making.
    • National guidance raised the upper age limit for referral to the Early Intervention in Psychosis pathway in 2016. Some trusts continue to prioritise younger patients for a variety of reasons – including funding, capacity and misconceptions about whether an older person can actually be experiencing a true first episode of psychosis in later life.

    Safety recommendations

    HSIB has made four safety recommendations as a result of this investigation.

    1. NHS England: HSIB recommends that NHS England works with appropriate stakeholders, including experts with appropriate experience, to create guidance on culture change. A quality improvement programme should also be developed to support practitioners in undertaking psychosocial assessments that are in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Person-centred safety planning should be embedded within the process.
    2. Care Quality Commission (CQC): HSIB recommends that the Care Quality Commission evaluates the way in which it reviews how community mental health services assess risk of harm, to ensure its inspections are in line with the latest national guidance.
    3. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): HSIB recommends that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence evaluates the available research relating to the risks associated with menopause on mental health and if appropriate, updates existing guidance.
    4. Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych): HSIB recommends that the Royal College of Psychiatrists forms a working group with relevant stakeholders to identify ways in which menopause can be considered during mental health assessments.

    Safety observations

    HSIB has made the following safety observations:

    • It may be beneficial for mental health organisations to have a dedicated liaison officer who acts as a point of contact for both families and clinicians when navigating involvement in a patient’s care and decision making.
    • It may be beneficial for organisations to involve families in care planning and assessments, and that practitioners are appropriately trained in working with families.
    • It may be beneficial for education bodies to develop training programmes in safety planning and psychosocial assessments, once NHS England has provided guidance on how such assessments should be conducted.
    • It may be beneficial for mental health organisations to ensure their Early Intervention in Psychosis referral process is in line with the national guidance, and that staff are clear about the upper age limit of patients accepted onto the pathway.

    Safety actions

    HSIB has noted the following safety action:

    • NHS England has written to all mental health trusts in England to highlight the importance of taking a person-centred approach to psychosocial assessments and safety planning. The communication asks trusts to move away from risk assessment tools that stratify an individual’s risk of suicide or self-harm.
    HSIB: Care delivery within community mental health teams (23 March 2023) https://www.hsib.org.uk/investigations-and-reports/care-delivery-within-community-mental-health-teams/
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