Royal College of Psychiatrists’ award accreditation to Salford service
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s mental health liaison service has been accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ until 2019.
Salford Mental Health Liaison Service has become one of only two liaison services in Greater Manchester to be awarded the Royal College’s Psychiatric Liaison Accreditation Network (PLAN) recognition.
The mental health liaison service provides mental health care for people aged over 16 being treated for physical health conditions at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. They provide psychiatric assessment and treatment to those patients experiencing a wide range of mental health problems including; depression, anxiety, psychosis, dementia and delirium.
The service receives over 5,500 referrals a year from Salford Royal’s A&E department and acute wards ensuring that a person’s mental health needs are also addressed when they are in hospital for treatment for their physical health needs.
The team is made up of mental health practitioners and psychiatrists who cover Salford Royal 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service works with hospital staff to increase the detection, recognition and early treatment of people with mental health needs. The service aims to reduce the time that some people need to stay in hospital, prevent unnecessary re-admission and encourage faster recovery from mental and physical illness.
The Psychiatric Liaison Accreditation Network (PLAN) award provides formal recognition that the service is committed to providing and improving quality of care in psychiatric liaison services. A service will be assessed against robust quality standards.
The accreditation process is thorough. A team of trained reviewers from RCPsych visits the service to conduct focus groups with staff, patients, carers and other stakeholders and reviews evidence and data with the service, before making a decision.
The accreditation holds great value because it takes into account the opinions of stakeholders, notably past and present patients. The service can only be accredited if patients and carers are satisfied with the overall quality of service.
The accreditation lasts 3 years with interim annual reviews. The accreditation is approved by the CQC. PLAN membership ensures that services can reflect on the care they provide, their achievements as well as areas of development.
Adam Young, Assistant Director for Community and Urgent Care at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to have received PLAN accreditation and recognition for the team’s on-going commitment to delivering high quality, safe and efficient care. Liaison services, like ours, can reduce the risk of self-harm and suicide while also addressing the long-term conditions and medically unexplained symptoms with which many patients present at acute hospitals – ensuring they are an essential part of integrated, effective health care.”
Dr Tom Tasker, Chair of NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “This recognition is testimony of the entire team behind the Salford Mental Health Liaison Service. It also reflects the truly collaborative approach our commissioners have taken when developing the service. Provision of a liaison service is integral to the development of truly integrated care services. Well done to all.”
Dr Tara Kearney, Chair of Division for Salford Healthcare, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re very pleased that the mental health liaison service based at Salford Royal has received PLAN accreditation. This will provide reassurance for people accessing the service about the quality of care they can expect to receive. Well done to all the staff who are working in partnership to deliver this important service for Salford.”
PLAN is an initiative of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI). The purpose of the CCQI is to raise the standards of care for mental health service users by helping the providers.
