Barnsley mental health services should meet all existing national quality standards and meet the standards that local people expect when needing help with their mental health.

• The Barnsley Mental Health Forum (BMHF) is a community group of mental health service users and their carers that is completely independent from Mental Health services, the NHS and Council.  
• The BMHF exists to inform the managers responsible for mental health services in Barnsley about people’s day-to-day experiences of using them, as reported to us by our members.
• The BMHF wrote these Standards from what people have told us, in surveys and in person, about how well Barnsley mental health services are working for them and their suggestions to make them work better.  
• These Quality Standards are about the availability, quality, and effectiveness expected of Barnsley mental health services by Barnsley people. 
• These Service Quality Standards are to be included in the Barnsley Mental Health Strategy Delivery Plan

BMHF members will monitor how well these quality standards are met in Barnsley

Standard 1     

Mental health services in Barnsley should know about any national quality standards that the services they offer should meet.  The service managers should check:

• how well they meet such standards – every year 
• if there are any new, or updated, standards – every quarter – and  
• that their frontline staff know about the national standards

Standard 2

Mental health service users and carers, and anyone who may use the service, are always involved in the:

• decisions about Barnsley mental health services such as: 

       –     planning which services are available, 

       –     how these are delivered and who by

       –     how they are checked to see if they work well for people

• how accountable and effective are the decisions about mental health services
• the recruitment of key mental health staff and their training

Standard 3

The need for mental health training of all GP practice staff should be regularly checked – as services vary between different GP practices when people go to their local surgery for mental health support.

Standard 4                           

Services should work together when different relevant services are working to help the same individual at the same time.

Standard 5

Services for people with a ‘dual diagnosis’ (two conditions, such as addiction & mental ill-health) should:

• be planned jointly to be sure both the services will be effective 
• use staff giving support that have expertise in both conditions

Standard 6

Mental health services should have ‘transition agreements’ that make sure the support continues when someone’s care is being transferred from one service to another service – so they are not left without the support they need.

Standard 7

Information about how to get mental health support in Barnsley should be:

• well advertised so people can find it when they need it
• clear what different services offer in the way of treatment and support
• non-digital information must be available for anyone who cannot use, or who prefers not to use, digital methods

Standard 8  

People should be able to contact urgent help at any time, all day, every day, just like in any other emergency, when they or someone else is experiencing a serious mental health crisis. 

This could be: 

• a Crisis number to talk to someone, not an answerphone
• a safe place to go to and talk about their crisis to someone 

And – there should always be a follow up contact, within 24 hours, if someone is assessed as 

         being OK (not in crisis) when they are seen by the liaison service having attended A&E 

         experiencing a mental health crisis:

• because they have relaxed once in a safe space 
• and the cause of their distress was not sorted out

Standard 9 

No mental health ‘needs assessment’ should be done by an automated telephone call, by pressing buttons on a phone to answer symptom questions – or one that redirects people to a website

Standard 10

Staff assessing someone should introduce themselves and explain clearly what their role is in finding the best way to help them: 

• if referring them to a service – they should give clear information about the service, such as if it has criteria, or a waiting list, and if they will be put on a waiting list say what other help may be available while they wait 
• if they are not referring them to a service – then they should give the reasons why and suggest where to go for some support

Standard 11 

Appointments should be arranged in ways that provide an equal level of service – by making sure that: 

• non-digital (face-to-face) appointments are available 
• non-digital communication about appointments is possible

 And if someone misses an appointment:

• follow-up contacts should be made (as mental ill health can prevent people from communicating) and 
• this should never result in them being discharged without investigating further 

Standard 12

Any criteria for using a service should be clear and should be explained when the referral is agreed with a patient. No services should have criteria that creates a gap in a person’s support such as when:

• the criteria of one service bars them from using that service  
• they are put on a waiting list to start the new service with criteria that meets their needs

Standard 13 

People on a waiting list should be contacted regularly to be given updates on when they are likely to be seen, and as regularly as they need to be. 

Standard 14  

No-one in significant mental distress should be put on a waiting list to get the mental health support they need.

Standard 15 

Service users and carers should be given information (digital or paper), and offered some training about mental health medications and what the different mental health diagnoses mean.

Standard 16 

Staff should treat service users and carers with respect and respond to each individual according to their own circumstances, needs and preferences and:

• support them to seek relevant support if their circumstances affect their mental health – such as with:     

           –     money, as poverty is known to be linked with depression  

           –     housing; work; family; physical health; relationships; bereavement etc.

• respect their preferences such as:

           –     the gender of staff supporting them – or

           –     non-digital contact, communication and information 

Standard 17  

Staff should listen to their patient, making no assumptions, and involve them in decisions about their care, care plans, including crisis plans if these are needed, and their recovery goals.

Standard 18  

A patient discharged from a hospital mental health inpatient unit should always be followed up within 48 hours if it is known that they have no informal carers (friends or family).

Standard 19

All mental health services should:

• keep carers informed about the welfare of the patient, including inpatients 
• never discharge a patient back into their carer’s care without the carer’s consent 
• even when patients refuse consent for carers to be involved in their care decisions

Standard 20

Mental health services should:

• offer support for as long as it is needed to sort the problem 
• not offer treatments which are limited to a set length of time or number of sessions – and
• recognise that many mental health support needs fluctuate with good and bad days and that people can deteriorate very quickly without any warning, even to themselves