Why?

Mental health, whilst a leading clinical priority in Scotland, has difficulty with somewhat fragmented and poorly developed information, particularly in primary and community care.  So, an Improving Mental Health Information Programme (iMHIP) has been developed to catalyse the multiple changes needed to improve the type, content, system and use of care information to support:

1) The integrated provision of individual - centred care  
2) Clinical governance and quality improvement 
3) Public health, performance management, strategic planning and research

Experience shows that information for quality improvement and planning is most likely to be accurate and reliable if it is derived from information shared among service users and care-providers for their own use.

What?

The programme supports the development and implementation of mental health policy in Scotland.   Our main tasks are to:

• Make current data and resources more accessible

• Prepare A Mental Health Information Strategy for Scotland and an implementation plan

• To build an information culture by involving  users, carers and professionals who are interested in information

• To agree minimal information sets (information bundles) to be shared to support joined-up care for individuals

• Review and make recommendations on the information systems required (including mobile access).

We have arranged a number of workshops and other meetings including annual national conferences.
Our most recent annual conference took place on Thursday 16th November 2007, at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. Further details can be found at iMHIP 06

We also publish a monthly newsletter to a 2000+ email circulation list. Please join the list! 

Resources

• A one page summary of the programme: what, why, how, who and when
• A  quick guide to key mental health resources carried over from our previous website. 
• The IMHIP 2006 Leaflet

If you are looking for information and cannot find it please get in touch with us ( Margaret Quinn ; 0131 275 6695.)