Prison mental health in-reach teams in England: the care programme approach and sexual abuse/violence.

Prison mental health in-reach teams have doubled in size over the past decade and case-loads have reduced. Since 2010 it has been mandatory for keyworkers to ask whether prisoners with serious mental illness being treated under the care programme approach have experienced sexual or physical abuse. This is known as routine enquiry and should take place for these prisoners but NHS England, the commissioners, do not audit this activity. It is time to review current interventions and their associated outcomes.

Sexual violence and abuse and the care programme approach.

In 2008 it became policy that all those on the care programme approach were assessed for sexual violence/abuse. The implementation of this policy was assessed 8 years on. The findings of a survey and data request to Health and Social Care Information Centre are disappointing. We argue that this important initiative needs to be reinvigorated.

Out of sight, out of mind.

As a result of the psychiatric hospital closure programme the use of private sector facilities for those needing longer-term care and support has increased. However, local rehabilitation services may be a better solution than out of area treatment.

Developing and piloting an audit tool for mental health education and training: the National Mental Health Education Continuous Quality Improvement Tool.

It is clear from the international literature that education and training can play a crucial role in improving the quality of mental health service delivery. In the UK, post-qualification mental health education and training is not generally allied to the national policy agenda and there is a lack of service user and carer involvement in the design, development and delivery of educational curricula. The Department of Health in England has funded the development of a continuous quality improvement tool to address these important concerns and help commissioners of mental health education and training evaluate key aspects of courses. The design of the tool was informed by the literature and a series of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders. Subsequent drafts were refined through steering group consultation and the instrument was then piloted within a selected region in England. This has resulted in a brief, user-friendly tool that takes into account the views of all stakeholders in mental health education programmes, promotes dialogue and facilitates continuous quality improvement. The tool promotes self-assessment of: partnership arrangements; the relevance of the programme to the policy context; the extent to which service users and carers are involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of programmes; and the assessment of the impact of the programme. Results from the initial implementation project (to be reported separately) suggest that the tool is welcomed and can complement existing quality mechanisms.