Carers have an intimate knowledge of the patient and can support and comfort them. But these carers also need support, comfort and recognition, and at Worcestershire Health and Care Trust Older Patient Inpatient Mental Health Service, we are working to make this happen.
A new training pack has been launched today to help reduce the stigma and discrimination sometimes experienced by people when using mental health services.
NHS England has worked with Time To Change, England’s biggest programme to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination, to develop and fund a project which aims to better understand the dynamics of relationships between people who use services and NHS professionals. Insight from research, focus groups and individual interviews, demonstrated that a high number of people using mental health services felt they experienced stigma and discrimination.
This insight helped Time To Change to work with mental health professionals and service users to identify examples of good practice as well as the barriers which can sometimes stand in the way of positive interactions. The resulting training pack focuses on the positive changes which can improve both team culture and working practices.
Idea To create a carer’s passport that provides details of the main carer and gives them greater access to assist in providing care. The carer’s passport opens up hospital wards to carers of patients living with Alzheimer’s or one of the other forms of dementia and has been adopted successfully at other hospitals.
Carl is a mental health campaigner who loves poetry. Here he blogs about how reading, writing or even performing can help your wellbeing, and gives his tips on how to get started...
We think that we need a new strategy for carers that sets out how more can be done to support them. It needs to reflect their lives now, their health and financial concerns, and give them the support they need to live well while caring for a family member or friend.
To help us develop the strategy, we want to hear from carers, those who have someone who care for them, business, social workers, NHS staff and other professionals that support carers.
In the latest in a series of blogs about health care for ex-service personnel, wife Jane (not her real name) gives heartfelt insight into what it is like for the families of veterans scarred by what they have seen and been through
Despite a positive and established perception of people with lived experience of mental distress contributing to the assessment of healthcare professionals, the consequence and implications for learning are predominantly unexplored.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details. SSOTP (legacy account) - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Mental health services in central Lancashire have worked with young people who have experience of mental health issues to hold a one-day conference on the transformation of services to improve the way that mental health care is provided to children, young people and their families.
The literature emphasizes that friendships are essential to youths’ successful transition to and adjustment in adulthood. Few studies have explored the friendships of transition‐aged youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and even fewer include youths’ own perspectives. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of transition‐aged youths with IDD regarding their own experiences of friendship.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The psychological status of caregivers of individuals with intellectual disability and psychiatric illness (PI) is important for effective management. The aim of this study was to examine the psychological status and its relationship with coping styles among these caregivers.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The NHS is today publishing guidance to help trusts work with bereaved families and carers.
Over 70 families and carers worked with NHS England on the guidance which will provide advice to hospitals, mental health and community trusts on how to involve families following the death of a loved one.
Alison Faulkner dissects the new McPin paper by Jasna Russo: Through the eyes of the observed: re-directing research on psychiatric drugs #PsychDrugDebate
To identify the methodological quality of each study and analyse the psychometric properties of instruments measuring quality and satisfaction with care from the perspective of mental health patients and professionals.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details. SSOTP (legacy account) - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Previous research into improving patient safety has emphasised the importance of responding to and learning from concerns raised by service users and carers. Expertise gained by the experiences of service users and their carers has also been seen as a potential resource to improve patient safety. We know little about the ease of raising concerns within mental health services, and the potential benefits of involving service users and carers in safety interventions. This study aimed to explore service user and carer perceptions of raising safety concerns, and service user, carer and health professional views on the potential for service user and carer involvement in safety interventions.
Expressed emotion (EE) is a global index of familial emotional climate, which is comprised of emotional over-involvement (EOI) and critical comments (CC)/hostility. Although EE is an established predictor of negative outcomes for both people with long-term mental health difficulties and their family carers, its psychological underpinnings remain relatively poorly understood. This paper examined associations between attachment, mentalisation ability and aspects of EE.