News Release, 21 July 2004
Speaking on the day of publication, Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said:
"There is clearly cause for concern when our best available system for measuring improvement shows a lack of it in many areas. It is sad to see performance slipping, and the results show the need for a concerted effort to ensure that mental health actually gets the priority status the Government has been promising it for so long.
But work is also needed to improve the way success is measured. We would question the usefulness of the star ratings system in driving up standards in ways that are meaningful for service users. Many of the current performance indicators are confused and unhelpful. Most would, in any case, have little impact on patient care or patient outcomes.
Where the targets do relate to factors that impact on patients, there are worrying results. It is deeply disturbing that some trusts have failed to implement CPA systems thirteen years after ... The fact that a trust can win three-star status without CPA systems implementation in place is strong evidence that the ratings are deeply flawed.
We also believe that this 'one size fits all' model, imposed from the centre, is unhelpful to trusts who have to deal with different populations. There should at least be different measures for trusts that serve urban, sub-urban and rural populations. It is worrying, for example, to see that some trusts which serve urban populations lack Assertive Outreach Teams. These are the very areas that need Assertive Outreach most - far more than in some areas where the box has been ticked.
The Mental Health Foundation believes that mental health trusts need to be able to operate locally owned quality assurance systems, with local user involvement. Only when measures are tailored to local need rather than centrally imposed via a 'one size fits all' system will we be able to properly evaluate the performance of trusts."
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For further information and interview requests contact please contact the press office on 020 7803 1105 / 1128 or email the press office
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