In March 2016, the AHSN Network ran its first intra AHSN learning event focussing on Mental Health.
The need for collaboration and knowledge mobilisation was identified by the AHSN Network’s Managing Directors group to:
- celebrate the breadth of work being undertaken across the country
- share best practice
- collaborate with the relevant National Clinical Directors
- support the adoption of innovations across AHSNs by raising awareness and sharing resources.
This first event on Mental Health included a presentation from Dr Geraldine Strathdee, National Clinical Director for Mental Health, on the most important areas of need for innovation and improvement, as well as a call from patient representatives to celebrate positive practice.
The event also piloted a model consisting of 10 micro presentations from AHSNs combined with an open dialogue space to allow networking and knowledge mobilisation across the AHSN network. See the full programme here.
Examples of AHSN work showcased
- The use of checklists to improve the quality of physical health checks for people with serious and enduring mental illness (the Bradford toolkit: Yorkshire and Humber AHSN)
- A comprehensive new approach to child and adolescent mental health services ( iTHRIVE: UCLP)
- DeAR GP and House of Memories (two approaches to improve training, screening and empathy in dementia care HIN and North West Coast AHSNs)
- A high fidelity approach to reduce variation in the treatments and outcomes for anxiety and depression (Oxford)
- Work to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with psychosis as a young adult (Wessex and Imperial AHSN)
- An effective whole system approach to prevention of mental health crisis (Raid: West Midlands AHSN)
- A quality improvement toolkit for Mental Health (MINDSet: West of England AHSN)
- A person centred and innovative approach to individual placement and support (East Midlands AHSN).
Key learning from the event
- The many examples of best practice, already developed by AHSNs and their members, which are now ready to be adopted by other AHSNs
- The plentiful opportunities to collaborate and align innovations, such as the DeAR GP (a tool to identify residents in care homes showing signs of dementia and referring them to a GP for diagnosis) with House of Memories (an app for people who suffer from dementia and their carers)
- The importance of service push and citizen pull for products, pathways and new ways of working
- The importance of economic evaluation to aid adoption and spread.
Key follow up actions for Mental Health / Dementia
- 34 offers of intra AHSN collaboration
- 27 offers of links to other ASHN projects
- An offer to compile case studies for wider circulation
- An offer to compile list of potential collaborations and links
- Great Manchester volunteered to host a follow up event
Find out more about the various opportunities for collaborations here.
The event was deemed a success with all 15 AHSNs represented and it was agreed the approach would be used as a model for future learning events.
Next steps
- All Improvement Directors to follow up progress on collaborations expressed at the March event with their own participants
- ‘Offering’ AHSNs to contact ‘interested’ AHSNs and share details of their innovation and arrange a webex to discuss adoption
- Schedule a follow-up event (hosted by Greater Manchester AHSN) to include a review of the progress of adoption
- Agree focus of next learning event and members of the planning group.
The image above is a still taken from a short film about the ‘My House of Memories’ app, designed by and for people living with dementia. Find out more here.
Posted on April 10, 2016
