The Island’s acute inpatient mental health service at Grianagh Court on the Noble’s Hospital estate has been reaccredited as ‘excellent’ by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS) scheme assesses inpatient mental health service units using recognised standards, with the aim of improving the quality of care.
Mr Coleman MLC, Member for the Department of Health and Social Care with responsibility for the Mental Health Service said:
'I extend my thanks to the Mental Health Service team at Grianagh Court for striving to deliver excellent quality inpatient care to those in our community with mental health and emotional problems – as well as their families and carers. The reaccreditation is about measuring the quality of our care and the effectiveness of the service that we provide for some of the most vulnerable in our society.'
The AIMS standards reflect the importance of the experiences of the individual using the service whilst they are an inpatient. The two year review, as part of the ongoing accreditation process, consisted of questionnaires for staff, patients and carers as well as audits of Mental Health Service patient care records and staff training records. Grianagh Court first achieved accreditation in October 2008, being one of only 10% of applicants to be accredited at a first attempt.
Dee Notman, Inpatient and Day Treatment Manager at Grianagh Court, said:
'The reaccreditation resulting in an ‘excellent’ rating reflects the hard work and dedication of the team. The process takes a holistic view of care from both the professional side and the patient’s perspective. The scrutiny by the professionals, patient and carer representatives from the Royal College’s AIMS Accreditation Committee is important and forms a large part of the accreditation process. Meeting the AIMS standards demonstrates that we rigorously meet the very highest national standards as well as being able to benchmark ourselves against other Mental Health Service units across the UK.'
