MH63.2013 Work with people and significant others to develop services to improve their mental health

Overview

This standard covers actively enabling and encouraging people and significant others through co-production to develop mental health services. This applies to those who work with people and significant others to enable them to develop and evaluate services to improve their mental health and address their mental health needs. Mental health needs could include those related to physical health needs and health inequalities. The term ‘co-production' refers to a way of working whereby citizens and decision makers, or people who use services, significant others, family carers and service providers work together to create a decision or service which works for them all. The approach is value driven and built on the principle that those who use a service are best placed to help design it. Users of this standard will need to ensure that practice reflects up to date information and policies. Version No 2

Knowledge and Understanding

You will need to know and understand:

1. the current national legislation, guidelines and local policies and protocols which affect your work practice
2. how to take account of cultural issues and the context of people's lives when seeking their involvement
3. the strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness of different methods for involving people and significant others
4. what sorts of conflicts, tensions and concerns people and significant others may have which pose issues for them in taking a full and active part in decision making processes about developing mental health services
5. the strengths, aspirations and resources people and significant others may bring in taking a full and active part in decision making processes about developing mental health services
6. recognise your own values and how these may impact positively or negatively on the extent to which people and significant others are willing and able to take a full and active part in decision making processes about developing services
7. what services are currently available in the context of improving the mental health of people and significant others and addressing their mental health needs
8. the training needs of professionals working alongside people who use services and significant others in the co-production of services
9. methods of communicating with people and significant others clearly and effectively
10. strategies for encouraging people and significant others to discuss issues openly and honestly
11. what information and communication is required to support involvement and informed decision making for those who are involved in developing mental health services
12. how to co-produce information in accessible formats
13. best practice in co-producing and running consultations
14. the effect of social, cultural and economic factors on people's ability to elucidate and present issues, concerns and priorities
15. how to ensure that individual and their significant family involvement is enabled to be as effective as possible
16. how to ensure that you are reaching everyone who wants to be involved in developing mental health services and the timescales required to get a full process of involvement
17. how to support those involved in developing mental health services and the options for rewarding involvement
18. how to evaluate individual and their significant others involvement and why it is important that this feeds into the development of practice
19. how to enable service providers to modify and develop their services to respond positively to the expressed priorities and needs of people and significant others

Performance Criteria

You must be able to do the following:

1. actively encourage people and significant others to take a full and active part in decision making processes about developing services
2. select and use methods of involving people and significant others which are likely to be effective in gaining their participation and commitment to change, acknowledging that some may have issues to deal with and the particular strengths in engaging with services
3. ensure the way in which you communicate with people and significant others is conducive to openness and a frank exchange of views
4. present and explain the options which are available for meeting agreed priorities and the implications of each option
5. provide sufficient information as needed for people to make informed choices
6. ensure the way in which you provide information is consistent with people's abilities and preferred form of communication
7. make the results of consultation processes widely available in a format that can be readily understood by people and significant others
8. use the feedback obtained from people and significant others to develop services to meet expressed needs and preferences within known constraints
9. agree and maintain confidentiality requirements relating to the views which people and significant others express
10. review and evaluate the methods used to involve people and significant others and use the results to inform future practice and investments
11. actively encourage people and significant others to:
1. take a full and active part in the review and evaluation of services
2. offer their opinions and suggest ways in which services might be improved
3. make the results of the evaluation available to those who have an interest in a form and at a time which is suitable for their use
4. agree and maintain confidentiality requirements relating to the views which they express
12. select and use methods of involving people and significant others in the evaluation which are likely to be effective in gaining their participation
13. ensure the way in which you communicate with people and significant others is conducive to openness and a frank exchange of views
14. present and explain the key outcomes of services provided by the organisation, together with any recommendations for changes

Additional Information

This National Occupational Standard was developed by Skills for Health. This standard links with the following dimension within the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (October 2004): Dimension: Core 4 Service improvement