Page last updated: 20-NOV-2007

Mental Health

Consultation on A Draft Mental Health Information Strategy for Scotland

Consultation on the Strategy has now ended but copies of the strategy and the covering letter are available:

A  compilation of the responses received is available (PDF; 49 pages;  690kb) .  If you wish to consult the original responses, these are available for inspection at our Gyle Square Office. Please contact Dr Alastair Philp (alastair.philp@nhs.net; 0131 275 6679).

We are now using the responses  to refine the strategy and the action plan that we are developing. This plan will set out who needs to do what, and when, to implement the vision described in the strategy.  Much will depend on the progress of the national eHealth  programme.

Events to support the consultation were held in the following locations

Mo 20 Jun     Edinburgh              British Medical Association, 14 Queen Street  

We 22 Jun    Perth                     Dewars Centre, Glover Street     

Fr 24 Jun      Aberdeen               Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road        

Th 30 Jun     Ayr                        Hannah Research Park, Mauchline Road    

Fr 1 Jul        Glasgow                 Royal College of Surgeons, St Vincent Street    

Why we need a strategy

Vision and principles

The underlying vision of the Strategy is that:

The best and most up to date information should be available to enable professional staff to offer appropriate care and treatment to patients with mental health problems.

This is a realistic objective, but to make it a reality we must work together with a shared commitment to the following principles:

  • Organisational development and cultural change must underpin the development of new systems and datasets
  • Change will be incremental - we cannot do everything at once, but there are also early gains to be made
  • Information systems should be patient-centred and integrated with wider changes in health information, not go-it-alone
  • A joint care approach with social work, health, non-statutory, and other agencies should be adopted
  • Information systems must take account of the needs of the range of workers, from this range of organisations, who may be involved in offering care and treatment
  • Information for quality improvement and management (both locally and nationally) should be derived from aggregated individual records where possible, not collected as a separate activity
  • The development and implementation of this strategy must be inclusive and reflect the range of interests necessary to make our shared vision a reality

Integrated service user information

The overall vision is of enhanced information, safely communicated among the care team, to support superior, integrated care. This will require:

  • Cultural change, to develop an organisational culture that values information collection, sharing and use to support service user-centred, integrated and coordinated care.  Leadership will be required as well as clinical ownership.  Service users must be involved.  Training will be required to develop skills. And authentication and audit mechanisms should be in place to ensure that only those who need to know gain access to personal information.
  • Agreed common information sets, including for encounter and intervention recording, transitions in care, and assessments.  Care plans and care summaries should be available under appropriate safeguards and national data standards must be adhered to
  • Robust information systems available to allow care providers to access, collect, store, and share information.  Mobile devices will be required.  All-Scotland technical standards must be followed.  In time, systems should be capable of prompting action dependent on the information entered.

Quality and management information

Information for quality improvement and service management, at both local and national levels, should be derived from aggregated and anonymised patient records, based on common data sets and standards.  To deliver this we need to work on the basis that:

  • Outcome measurement must become embedded in information systems, not be an afterthought and should reflect the whole system, both health and social care
  • Local quality improvement projects should be supported by national actions
  • Local Integrated care pathways should be supported by information systems that allow a piece of care that was planned for an individual, but not delivered, to be identified and put in place.
  • Information derived from patient data should inform service planning, management and change, including workforce needs and development
  • Datasets should be capable of supporting research to develop our understanding of what works and where system improvements can be made
  • Nationally consistent routine data on health and social care activity should be reformed to support service planning and management in the future.

Information on mental ill-health conditions, on promoting mental well-being, on what interventions work, and where to access services

  Quality patient-centred information will best succeed in improving care where it is supported by improvements in:

  • Information on access to and the availability of local services, in multiple formats and in languages other than English
  • Information on mental ill-health conditions, on interventions to improve mental health, and on maintaining mental well-being. Information should be available in multiple formats, including electronic, telephone and paper, and should be available in languages other than English.
  • Access to the evidence base, including the development of a managed knowledge network for mental health