Why join ACOMHS?
The development process gives you an opportunity to assess your community service against our approved standards and work towards ensuring that your service is of a good quality, with the help of a supportive peer review team.
Accreditation assures patients, carers, frontline staff, commissioners, managers, and regulators that your community service is of a good quality and that staff are committed to improving care.
Who can join?
If you work in a UK adult community mental health service, then your service is eligible to join the network.
Please note:
- The standards focus on the core functions of a community mental health team. This means that both working-age adult teams and specialist teams such as those for older adults, rehabilitation, forensic, and so on, can join the programme. However, at present ACOMHS is not able to review the specialist aspects of such teams, just the aspects of community working which are common to all community mental health services.
- If you work in an Early Intervention in Psychosis service, please see the Early Intervention in Psychosis Network (EIPN).
- As part of the assessment process, we will review your staffing and processes and therefore if you work in a service that includes multiple teams, we will assess each team separately. If you are unsure whether your team counts as a single or multiple, please contact us.
- Membership demonstrates a commitment to providing the highest level of care to service users.
- Member services receive year-round support from the ACOMHS Project Team.
- The network provides an annual forum and additional learning events. These can count towards staff members continuing professional development.
- Peer reviews provide the opportunity to visit similar units and share ideas.
- The process provides evidence to support CQC inspections and other regulatory processes
Below are some testimonials from our member services about their experiences participating in the ACOMHS community network:
‘It was really beneficial being part of the whole day to get a sound overview, I enjoyed meeting new colleagues and hearing about the service and what staff were proud about’ – ACOMHS Peer Reviewer
‘I really enjoyed meeting a team who clearly are all engaged in the process, proud of what they do and of their colleagues and supportive of each other. Meeting service users and carers who spoke of how much the service had improved their lives and outlook.’ – ACOMHS Carer Representative and Peer Reviewer
‘The review team were friendly, helpful and very kind. They appeared genuinely interested in our service and knowledgeable about older People's services and needs. The project officer did a great job of chairing, keeping meetings to time scales while encouraging people to participate.’ – Service Lead of an Accredited service
‘It was a great opportunity to demonstrate the quality of the work the team does both to the review team and as a reminder to the team themselves.’ Manager of an Accredited service
‘It was useful to have the opportunity to take time to reflect on the service we provide and receive constructive feedback from the ACOMHS peer review team. The peer review team were very welcoming and gave positive feedback on good practice and areas where we can improve. The whole team had an opportunity to speak with the peer review team to discuss what is going well along with the challenges we have faced over the last 12-18 months. It was a positive experience for the team.’ – Service Lead of an Accredited service
‘Attending as a peer reviewer gave me an invaluable insight into how other services prepare for the review.’ – ACOMHS peer reviewer
New teams can join the network at any time. If you’d like to join, please fill out the joining form.
If you’d like further information about joining the ACOMHS network, please contact us.
How much does it cost?
ACOMHS membership costs £2,780 (+VAT).
If you sign up for three years of membership at a cost of £7,920 (+VAT), you save 5% and ensure your membership cost is frozen for the duration.
The College Centre for Quality Improvement is cost-neutral, so the majority of your subscription fee goes towards the cost of organising your peer review visit and other benefits such as free training and forum events; the rest is used in administration of the process.
Please note: The subscription fee applies per team or per service as individual teams/services will each be reviewed separately. If you have multiple teams or services in your Trust they will each need to sign up separately.