Overview of Intensive Psychiatric Care Units in Scotland - 2010 (PDF, 2.6MB, 6.12mins)
About the report
This report presents our key findings of the first stage of a project that set out to audit IPCU provision across Scotland.
To generate a comprehensive picture, we carried out this work in partnership with the Mental Welfare Commission and the service user led organisation VOX Scotland, and were supported by Better Together, Scotland’s Patient Experience Programme.
In this way, we were able to collect and analyse information from NHS boards, mental health care managers and clinicians from across NHSScotland as well as the knowledge and lived experiences of past and present IPCU patients and carers.
Our key messages
Throughout this work, we have heard from service users and carers about the importance of:
- feeling safe and secure
- having access to meaningful occupation and a good range of therapies
- being listened to
- being involved in care and treatment decisions, and
- being respected when in an IPCU.
As we know, IPCUs by their nature are locked and highly risk managed environments. While this level of security is essential, the primary function of an IPCU should be a therapeutic one where care and support is provided for people in acute stages of mental illness. This is in the same way as an intensive care or high dependency unit in a general hospital provides care for people who are very physically unwell, until such a time as they have recovered sufficiently to move to a less intensive care setting.
We have developed a number of key messages and hope that these will help services to realise the Healthcare Quality Strategy for NHSScotland quality ambition of ‘Mutually beneficial partnerships between patients, their families and those delivering healthcare services which respect individual needs and values and which demonstrate compassion, continuity, clear communication and shared decision-making.’
Detailed information on what we did, what we found and areas for service improvement are discussed later in this summary and are covered in more detail in the body of this report.
Survey of Intensive Psychiatric Care Units (IPCUs) Service Profile Reports
Access the service profile reports published in November 2009 here
