Trust leading the way in community mental health care

Dorset HealthCare has been rated as one of the top four NHS trusts in the country which are providing an extremely high level of care for people with mental illness.

This is according to findings published in the latest Community Mental Health Survey carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which found the Trust’s services to be performing ‘better than expected.’

Out of the 56 NHS mental health services that took part, Dorset HealthCare’s community mental health teams scored better than most in four of the eleven categories.

The survey summarises the experiences of 12,796 people who received mental health care in the community across England between 1 September and 30 November 2017.

It consists of 38 questions clustered into 11 domains, asking people for their views on the care they received, such as whether they were treated with dignity and respect, and if they were involved in planning their treatment.

Trusts are then categorised into one of five bands: much worse than expected, worse than expected, about the same, better than expected or much better than expected.

Within the 11 sections, Dorset HealthCare scored ‘better than most other trusts’ in four domains, and about the same in the rest.

The areas it scored highest in were planning care, medicines, overall views of care and services, and overall patient experience.

Colin Hicks, Service Director for Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, said: “This latest survey demonstrates some really good results for our Trust, particularly when looking at the overall views of patients who have received care from us.

“Last year we were rated as being about the same as other Trusts, but this time round we have scored better than most, and there is no better feedback than that of those who use our services.

“We strive to ensure we provide the highest possible level of care, and it’s great that our patients are noticing this and hold the work our dedicated staff do in such high regard.”

The Trust is now reviewing the areas it scored slightly weaker on, and feed this into ongoing improvement work across its services.