Standards
We appreciate that teams are different in
size, nature and function. The standards we use therefore
include core domains common for all teams, but also recognises that
some areas may be outside a team’s remit, meaning that a small but
well functioning team can still be accredited, or even
accredited with excellence, in the domains that it is measured
against. Accreditation certificates will state clearly which
domains have been accredited and which have not been
measured. Certificates will also state the working hours of
the liaison team; this is important because PLAN is unable to make
any judgment about the quality of out-of-hours
teams.
Teams will be reviewed against the following domains:
- Core standards for all teams, including ease
of referral, relationship with the wider hospital and external
agencies, and staffing, training and support within the
liaison team.
- Meeting emergency mental health needs throughout the
hospital (adults of all ages), including services to
people who self-harm, people brought in under Section, people who
may be psychotic, and people on general wards who develop urgent
mental health needs. All teams will be measured against this
domain.
- Meeting routine mental health needs throughout the
general hospital, which includes people admitted to
general wards who have a psychological reaction to physical illness
or injury, people with medically unexplained symptoms and people
where psychological factors may be affecting their capacity to
consent or refuse medical treatment.
- Providing routine mental health care to older
people, such as those with dementia, delirium and
depression.
- Providing training and support to non-mental health
colleagues, such as emergency department colleagues, ward
staff and so on.
PLAN standards - second edition
(2010-2011)
Email discussion group
PLAN will help liaison professionals to
network with each other. Our active email discussion
group is free to join -simply email 'Join' to PLAN-chat@cru.rcpsych.ac.uk to
take part.
Newsletters
  
May
2009
July
2009
July
2010 April
2011
Other resources
We are committed to showing the outside
world that liaison services can play a valuable role in many ways,
primarily by improving patient outcomes, reducing length of stay
and healthcare costs, and supporting non-mental health colleagues
in the hospital. The following documents address some of
these issues.
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, 2009
This report, produced by
the PLAN team in collaboration with the Liaison
Faculty highlights the importance of liaison services and
argues that every hospital should have access to these
services.
-
Healthy
Mind, Healthy Body
NHS Confederation, April 2009
This Briefing looks at
opportunities to improve quality and efficiency in acute services
by focusing on the needs of the significant number of patients who
also have mental health problems complicating their care and
discharge. It sets out some good practice examples together
with academic evidence to build a business case for liaison
psychiatry services.
Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, 2008
This outlines the case
for investing in liaison mental health services and sets out a
series of recommendations and standards that should underpin these
services.
Aitken P,
2007
This report focuses on
the key components that should be in place within a liaison team if
the service is to operate effectively.
We will shortly be developing an online resource
library to exchange documents, policies, business case ideas and so
on. This area will only be accessible to PLAN
members.
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