In February and March 2010, the Royal College
of Psychiatrists held hearings, hosted a one-day seminar and
invited written submissions to gather the views of more than 50
psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists,
social workers, commissioners, trust chief executives, academics,
health economists, voluntary sector organisation chief executives,
service users, carers, medical directors and national mental health
programme leads on the future of UK mental health services.
Following on from the publication of Mental health and the economic downturn, a
report which highlighted the need for service redesign in mental
health, this enquiry - chaired by John Bowis OBE - asked
contributors to consider a number of areas, including:
- positives and negatives from the last ten years of mental
health service reform
- how best to organise services to provide the best outcomes for
service users
- reconciling any tensions between generalist and specialist
approaches to care
- how best to achieve effective collaboration between different
health services
- how to better manage transitions between services, or parts of
a service, to ensure comprehensive care and continuity for service
users
- how to better integrate health, social care,
non-statutory/voluntary sector, employment and criminal justice
services.
Looking ahead:
Summary and recommendations
Background material from the hearings, seminar and written
submissions