By Suzanne Traynor @Traynors
Associate Professor Mental Health (Practice) at Middlesex University & My Care Academy.
Supporting mental health staff to develop their skills and confidence in the assessment of risk is a core requirement for all Trusts. My Care Academy (MyCA) in partnership with Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust have developed a bespoke training day for all staff: Keeping the Patient Safe
My Care Academy is a knowledge building community and the Keeping the Patient Safe training day was co-produced with service users, Trust, academic and MyCA staff. The learning outcomes and content were agreed following a series of curriculum development meetings as well as informal feedback from staff and service users in the Trust. Multidisciplinary staff have the opportunity to learn together, reflect on their current practice as well as update themselves regarding new evidence base and knowledge shared through lessons learnt. Some of the key themes we explore are risk assessment, engaging relationships, formulation and care planning.
On a regular basis, staff ask about tools that could be used to support their assessment as they feel that this could ensure a robustness to their assessment that may be lacking without. However, a recent report of a national study on the use of risk assessment tools across mental health services summarised their findings:
Click here to watch a short film of the summary of this report.
The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness. Annual report: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Manchester: University of Manchester. 2017.
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=37560
Worthington A, Rooney P, Hannan R. the Triangle of Care, Carers included: A guide to best practice in mental health care in England. London: Carers Trust 2013
https://professionals.carers.org/sites/default/files/thetriangleofcare_guidetobestpracticeinmentalhealthcare_england.pdf