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• Abbreviations
• Definitions

Abbreviations

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Definitions

Assertive Outreach Team
An intensive service providing care and treatment for people with severe mental illness in the community.

Carer Support Worker
People who provide specific support to carers. In some services these staff may be known as carer development workers or family support workers.

Carer
Someone who provides or intends to provide practical and emotional support to someone with a mental health problem.

Care Plan
Identifies needs and how they can best be met, what recovery goals are thought to be, and what should happen if a crisis is experienced. Care plans should recognise broader social needs.

Care Programme Approach
This approach has been central to government policy since 1991. It was seen as a crucial means to ensure that, following the closure of the old, long stay, hospitals, people with mental health problems received the care they needed, rather than lose contact with services and end up homeless or exploited. The programme requires everyone accepted for treatment or care by mental health services should have:

• Their needs for treatment and care assessed
• A package of care (care plan) to meet those needs drawn up
• A named mental health worker (keyworker or care co-ordinator) to keep in close touch with them
• A regular review of their needs and their care plan.

Care Programme Approach Review
A review of needs and care plans.

Carers in Partnership
Gives carers a way to work together regionally to influence the planning, setting up and running of mental health services in the region.

Commission for Health Improvement
A statutory body providing independent assessment of the quality of health care.

Community Health Council Statutory bodies which provide information and advice to local people about health services and represent patients interests.

Community Psychiatric Nurse A qualified person who provides out-patient and follow up care, care without admission to hospital or preventative services, often within primary health care. Also known as CMHN – Community Health Nurse.

Community Mental Health Team
The community based team offering assessment, treatment and care.

Crisis Resolution Team
This team aims to provide an assessment and treatment service, 24x7, wherever people are where people are in crisis. Graduate Worker in Primary Care: The role of the Graduate Worker in primary Care will be to work with people with common mental health problems, to enhance community development work and engage in auditing and developing registers for people with serious mental illness in general practice. LIP - Local Implementation Plans : These are the reports provided annually by LITs prior to the introduction of LDPs.

Early Intervention Team
Able to provide the intensive support and help that every young person who develops a first episode of psychosis needs.

Home Treatment Team
Will treat people at home who would otherwise have to be admitted to hospital.

Local Implementation Team
At local level, in each health and social care community, there is a local implementation team to plan and deliver change. It comprises the statutory services (such as health, social services and housing) for the area, together with service users, carers and local voluntary groups that either provide care themselves, or campaign for better mental health care.

Multi Disciplinary team
A team of medical, nursing, social services and other professionals involved in a persons care to discuss their history, progress, outlook and plans.

National Service Framework for Mental Health (NSF)
Published in September 1999 the framework sets out a ten year programme to put in place new high standards of care, which people will be entitled to expect in every part of the Country.

The NSF fleshes out the policies in Modernising Mental Health Services, by defining models of care and treatment. It also sets milestones and targets against which progress, within timescales, is being measured.

National Institute for Clinical Excellence
Provides guidance on best practice in health care, including the prescribing of treatments.

NHS Plan
The Plan outlines a new delivery system for the NHS including setting a number of special targers around new workers and new teams.

NHS University (NHSU)
This is the corporate university for the NHS. It has been set up to change and improve the services the NHS offers patients by giving everyone who works in health and social care opportunities to learn and develop, both personally and professionally.

Primary Care Trusts
Groups of doctors, nurses and social care professionals – as well as other organisations and agencies - working in partnership to shape local health and social care services. They are free standing, statutory bodies, responsible for delivering better health care to their local population.

Prison In Reach
Prisons in England are working with the NHS to introduce 'in reach' services, where NHS staff work directly with prisoners to help treat their mental health problems.

Personal Social Services Departments
These are part of the Local Authority responsible for the planning and delivery of Social Care Services.

Psycho Social Interventions
These are becoming increasingly available both to individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental illness and their families. In family therapy, for example, people identify the triggers for symptoms associated with schizophrenia to enable them to manage the illness more effectively. PSI and associated interventions need to be provided by practitioners with appropriate training, and are usually provided in conjunction with other forms of treatment.

RDC - NIMHE Regional Development Centre
These are eight local centres of NIMHE that aim to provide direct support and advice to Mental Health trusts and Social Care organisations.

SCMH - Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
SCMH is an independent charity that seeks to influence mental health policy and practice and enable the development of excellent mental health services through a co-ordinated programme of research, training and development.

Service User
A person using mental health services, whether they are in hospital or in the community.

SHA
Their role is to performance manage and support the development of PCT's and Trusts.

Workforce Development Conferations
Workforce Development Confederations drive forward at a local level, the programme for creating an integrated approach to developing the workforce needs of the health and social care sector.

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