What is AIMS for psychiatric intensive care
units?
AIMS-PICU is a partnership between the CCQI
and NAPICU that works to assure and improve the quality of care in
psychiatric intensive care units. It engages staff and
service users in a comprehensive process of review, through which
good practice and high quality care are recognised and services are
supported to identify and address areas for improvement.
Accreditation assures staff, service users and
carers, commissioners and regulators of the quality of the service
being provided.
AIMS is an initiative of the College Centre
for Quality Improvement.
Why focus on psychiatric intensive care
units?
Psychiatric intensive care units provide care for what could be
described as some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members
of our society. However, historically, PICUs were developed by
local services without national guidance or knowledge about the
experience of others, leading to variations in policies and
practice that have not always best served those using the
services.
In recent years much work has been done to
establish an evidence-base and develop consensus on what should be
expected of PICUs.
Why accreditation is important
- Services are able to demonstrate the
quality of care they provide to service users and carers,
their wider organisation and commissioners.
- Services are able to demonstrate that
they meet national guidelines, standards and
legislation. This can form part of the information
they provide to regulatory bodies, as recommended by the National
Quality Board.
- Information gathered through the
accreditation process can be used in trust quality
accounts, as recommended by the National Quality Board,
and mandatory for the first time this year.
- Achievement of accredited status may support
services to reduce their financial contribution to the
NHSLA.
The standards we use
Our standards are developed to support
services to improve the quality of care for people using services
and demonstrate that they meet national requirements.
The standards cover five domains:
- General Standards, including policies, protocols and staffing
related issues;
- Timely and Purposeful Admission;
- Safety;
- Environment and Facilities;
- Therapies and Activities.
The standards are aligned with:
- Department of Health Policy Implementation Guides;
- the findings of the Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and
Homicide;
- NICE guidance;
- recommendations by NHS Estates and the Royal College of
Psychiatrists about ward design;
- the National Patient Safety Agency’s Safer Wards for Acute
Psychiatry Initiative;
- recommendations arising from the National Audit of
Violence.
The complete set of standards is aspirational;
we do not expect services to meet every standard, and services can
still be accredited as excellent without meeting all the
standards.
How we measure performance against the
standards
We recognise that wards are diverse and that,
for example, high quality care does not necessarily require a new
purpose-built ward. Therefore, services are categorised
against each standard at one of three levels:
Level 1: failure to meet
these standards could result in a significant threat to the safety,
rights or dignity of service users and/or would breach the
law. These standards must be met for a ward to be
accredited;
Level 2: standards that an
accredited ward would be expected to meet;
Level 3: standards that an
excellent ward should meet or standards that are not the direct
responsibility of the ward.
How our standards were
developed
Our standards have been developed from a
literature search and in consultation with stakeholder
groups. The standards include information from a wide range
of sources, including the National Association of Psychiatric
Intensive Care Units and Low Secure Units (NAPICU), and take into
account the views of ward staff, service users and carers.
They have been subject to extensive
consultation with all professional groups involved in the provision
of acute inpatient mental health services and with service users
and their representative organisations.
Resources
Pilot Phase Report
To download a copy of the AIMS-PICU Pilot Phase Report, click
here
Discussion Group
It is free to join our discussion group. Send
"JOIN" to AIMS-PICU-CHAT@cru.rcpsych.ac.uk
Other resources
National minimum standards for general adult services in
Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) and Low Secure
Environments:
Written by the Department of Health with input from NAPICU. A
key document in relation to the development of the AIMS-PICU
standards.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4010439
Cambridge
Journal - Psychiatric Intensive Care accreditation: The development
of AIMS-PICU
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7923228
Nursing Times: Using an accreditation
scheme to demonstrate quality in mental healthcare
settings
http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/clinical-specialisms/mental-health/using-an-accreditation-scheme-to-demonstrate-quality-in-mental-healthcare-settings/5016469.article
For resources relating to AIMS in general, click here
Our Partner Organisations
AIMS-PICU is a partnership between the CCQI and NAPICU (the National
Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care & Low Secure
Units).
NAPICU is a multi-disciplinary clinician lead organisation
committed to the development of psychiatric intensive care and low
secure services primarily in the UK. One of the founding principles
of NAPICU was and remains the aim to improve the care and treatment
of service users who require psychiatric intensive or low secure
care. Their work on the AIMS-PICU standards built upon their input
on the National minimum standards for general adult services in
psychiatric intensive care units (PICU) and Low Secure
Environments.
The accreditation programme is funded on a
subscription basis.
The annual cost is £2,400 plus VAT per
participating ward – i.e. £2,880.
We offer a 10% discount to wards joining for 4
years. The cost of this is £8,640 plus VAT – i.e.
£10,368.
Complete a joining form here.
Terms and
Conditions
Contact us
If you would like to find out more about
AIMS-PICU, and how your service can get involved, please contact
Justina Kaselionyte:
Tel: 020 7977 4983
Email: jkaselionyte@cru.rcpsych.ac.uk
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