Results of mental health survey released
The findings from the 2014 Community Mental Health Survey for Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW) have been published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today. Service users were asked what they thought about different aspects of the care and treatment they received at GMW.
Positive findings for GMW include:
- 82% of respondents felt they were always treated with dignity and respect
- Respondents felt involved in decisions about medication
- They felt care and services were organised well and that they were seen often enough to meet their needs
- A large number felt that they were listened to carefully and were given enough time to discuss their needs and treatment
- Many felt that they knew how to contact their care coordinator if they had concerns
- Three quarters rated their overall experience of GMW as good or very good
- Almost two thirds of respondents knew who to contact out of hours in a crisis
As always there is room for improvement and these include providing better information on medication purposes and side effects. GMW will also aim to improve service users’ knowledge of who their care coordinator is and how they can be accessed.
It is also imperative that all service users have access to an out of hours mental health support telephone number and the Trust is committed to making this a reality under the new home-based treatment services to be rolled out during the latter part of 2014 and early 2015.
Although a Carers Charter has been fully embedded in the Trust, it is vital that enough information is given to families and carers as they play such as important role in the recovery and ongoing support of service users. GMW will ensure carers and families remain a significant priority over the next 12 months and beyond.
Bev Humphrey, Chief Executive of GMW, said: “We are extremely pleased that the majority of service users who responded to this survey felt they were treated with dignity and respect. In fact many of the questions which pertain to having direct contact with service users show a positive score and I believe this is down to our Values into Action work. As a result, five core values have been widely promoted throughout the Trust and it is clear that our staff have really understood their significance, taken them to heart and embedded them in their day to day work.
“We know how vital it is to support our service users once they leave the intensive treatment they receive from us and as the results show, there is more we can do to support service users with finding employment, managing any benefits they may be entitled to and housing issues.
“We will continue to strengthen our work with carers and families as we see them as vital partners in a service user’s care plan and we know how important it is for both service users and carers to have access to out of hours support. These points of access are a top priority for GMW at the moment and we hope to have them up and running very soon.
“It was disappointing to see that only about a third of respondents felt they had been given help and advice with regard to their physical health over the last 12 months. GMW has rolled out a comprehensive physical health programme across all directorates as we recognise that improving and maintaining physical health is just as important as treating a mental health or substance misuse issue. We will continue to concentrate our efforts in this area and hopefully see an improvement in the next survey results.
“I would like to thank all our staff who work so hard to make GMW a great place to receive care. I would also like to thank everyone who responded to the survey. This kind of first-hand feedback is vital in helping us to know what we do well, and where we need to work harder.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW) provides district mental health services in Bolton, Salford and Trafford. GMW also provides substance misuse services in Salford, Trafford, Wigan and Leigh, Blackburn with Darwen, Central Lancashire and Cumbria.
- GMW delivers specialist mental health and substance misuse inpatient services throughout Greater Manchester and the wider North.
- The full national results for the 2014 survey are on the CQC website, together with an A to Z list to view the results for each trust, national tables, containing national results for the 2014 survey, compared with 2013 where possible, scores out of 10 for each trust, alongside a banding of ‘better’, ‘worse’ or ‘about the same’, in the CQC organisation search tool. Visit: www.cqc.org.uk.
For media enquiries, contact the press office on 0161 772 4313 or email caroline.vining@gmmh.nhs.uk
