Cygnet Health Care is delighted to be leading on an exciting pilot with the National Recovery & Outcomes Steering Group aimed at improving service user involvement in communications with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The project will enable service users who are subject to MoJ restrictions to communicate directly with the MoJ, this is a significant shift in practice. Service users will have the opportunity to explain in their own words about the progress they have made; how their risk has reduced and any other factors that they would like the MoJ to consider.
To enable this to happen the MoJ have agreed that Applications for Leave and Annual Statutory Report documentation can be amended to allow the service users views to be captured.
“We view this as a positive and long-awaited step in furthering service user’s participation in their personal recovery journey. We also look forward to further productive collaboration with all those involved in progressing this important work.”Tish Jennings, Head of Quality Assurance & Casework Systems Mental Health Casework Section for the MoJ
There will be a phased approach to the pilot, starting in Cygnet units across the UK and then bringing other Providers on-board as soon as practical after the pilot starts.
“The experience and involvement someone has in their care is intrinsically important, and we know that good involvement in decision making and communication are strongly linked to improved clinical outcomes and patient safety. We really welcome this opportunity to give our services users a voice in this important process.”Julie Kerry, Cygnet Health Care’s Director of Nursing and Patient Experience
The pilot will start in January 2016 and run for 12 months and a post pilot evaluation will take place to measure the impact of the pilot.
“We are very excited about increasing the voice and involvement of service users in the decision-making processes of the MoJ. We would very much like other organisations and NHS Trusts to join in with the pilot as we hope to provide as much evidence as possible to show that involving service users in this new way of working really does make a difference.”Ian Callaghan, Recovery and Outcomes Manager ReThink Mental Illness