This is a national
quality improvement programme which brings together professionals
from emergency departments, acute medical, mental health and
ambulance services to review and improve the service they provide
to people who self-harm
Background
Self-harm is one of the top five causes of
acute medical admission in the UK (68,716 admissions in 2001/2002).
The quality of care for those who self-harm depends on the quality
of joint working between emergency departments and mental health
service and this currently varies across the UK.
Many people who attend an emergency department
as a result of self-harm find the experience unpleasant. This
finding greatly influenced the recently published NICE guidelines
which concluded that improving staff knowledge and attitudes is the
key to better services and reduction in the substantial morbidity
and mortality associated with self-harm. NICE guideline
on Self-Harm
Our best practice guideline around self-harm
incorporates the NICE guidance and includes other standards and
current legislation from the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine, and
The Department of Health. Where appropriate, the standards are
mapped to the Healthcare Commission’s ‘Standards for Better
Health’, allowing services to demonstrate compliance against these.
You can download a copy of manual of standards by clicking on the
link below.
Better Services
for People who Self-Harm – Quality Standards for Health Care
Professionals
Funding
The programme is being partly funded by the
Health Foundation
an independent charity that aims to improve health and the quality
of healthcare for the people of the UK. This is one of several
programmes that form the Health Foundation’s ’Engaging with
Quality’ initiative, which aims to address the gap between
‘current’ and ‘best’ practice within healthcare settings. Their
funding has allowed us to waiver the subscription fee for the
current participating teams and to be able to offer subsequent
participants a joining cost of just £3,500 per team for 18 month
programme.
The partners
The Royal College of Psychiatrist’s Centre for
Quality Improvement is working in collaboration with the following
partners who represent key professionals in the care of people who
self-harm:
- The British Association for Emergency
Medicine and the College of Emergency Medicine
- The Royal College of Nursing
- The Royal College of Physicians
- Mind
- The NICE National Collaborating Centre for
Mental Health
The programme is also working with national
self-harm and service user support groups. A national service user
advisor is a member of the Central Project Team.
Click on the links below for more information