Join the Psychiatric Liaison Accrediation Network (PLAN)

The benefits

• A local report which includes recommendations for quality improvement following the review process.
• Membership rates when attending our events, including our annual forum and special interest days.
• Access to monthly learning events.
• Unlimited free places to attend our peer reviewer training sessions.
• Opportunities to network with other liaison teams in the UK, including attending peer review visits.
• Be involved in quality improvement.
• Access to our online discussion group.

Our review process allows teams to be involved in quality improvement. Accreditation assures patients, carers, frontline staff, commissioners, managers, and regulators that your liaison service is of a good quality and that staff are committed to improving care. This formal recognition is fantastic, but PLAN membership also brings a range of other benefits:

• The Care Quality Commission (CQC) views membership of PLAN favourably when inspecting a Trust. You can find more information on the CQC website. 
• Taking part in PLAN supports in quality improvement. 
• The PLAN process helps build dialogue with referrers, partner agencies, and commissioners. In some cases, it has helped liaison teams to secure additional funding or new contracts.
• The ‘Treat as One’ report (PDF) produced by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death found that good practice in the quality of mental healthcare provided by hospitals with PLAN-accredited teams was better than those with teams that were not accredited (NCEPOD, 2017).

Testimonials

• "Teams that have been through the PLAN process are able to collect and act upon feedback from their patient and carers and the impact of PLAN is clearly visible."  Satveer Nijjar, Patient Rep on PLAN, trainer in mental health. 

• "The PLAN process was an excellent exercise for the whole team in reflecting upon our achievements as a new team and areas for development.  We've used the independent information gathered from the PLAN review to gain funding to improve the Emergency Department assessment cubicle.  Gaining PLAN accreditation is a valuable and objective assessment of the quality of the service we provide."  Dr Mahnaz Hashmi, City Hospital.

• "The team were so uplifted by all the positive comments and proud of the service they offer." Barbara Woodworth, Cheshire and Wirral. 
  
  
• “PLAN provides an extremely helpful framework for improving services, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate the quality of our service.” Cathy Walsh/Mae Wong, Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
  
  
• “PLAN helped us negotiate better facilities in the acute hospital and helped us reconfigure our alcohol services.” Peter Byrne, Newham University Hospital.

PLAN is open to liaison psychiatry teams throughout the UK. Teams join the network as 'members'. Members are able to go through our review process against our published standards.

The cost

• One year: £3,660 + VAT
• Three years: £10,430 + VAT (5% discount)

To join, please complete this joining form, and download the PLAN membership terms and conditions (DOC).

If you’d like further information about joining PLAN please see our guidance document (PDF) and/or contact us.

When liaison psychiatry teams join the network as members, they must undergo a developmental review before they can go through the accreditation review process.

The developmental option includes a 12-week self-review period, peer-review and a complete report to support teams with recommendations to meet standards in the future. Teams are not presented to the Accreditation Committee but are required to complete an action plan based on their report. This action plan is used to set goals and targets and can be used as guidance if the team choose to undergo an accreditation review.

Self-review

First, teams will undergo a 12-week self-review period where the team will review themselves against each of the PLAN standards. Further information is also collected from the staff team, acute colleagues in the general hospital, patients and their family/carers.

All the documents and information needed for completing the self-review will be sent to you.

Peer-review

Following the self-review period, teams will receive a visit by a peer-review team. This is a supportive day and the purpose is to validate the self-review data. 

Report

After the peer-review visit, a draft report will be collated and sent to the team.  

Accreditation

If the team has chosen the accreditation option, the team will be presented to the Accreditation Committee. Using your report and any further evidence you might have sent to show you’re meeting the standards, the Accreditation Committee will recommend an accreditation status for you. There are three main categories of accreditation status:

• Accredited
• Deferred
• Not accredited 

Your team will be given time, guidance and support to reach accreditation.