Service Users' Views

“Your Views of Mental Health Inpatient Services” Survey 2011                7^th February 2012

The Mental Health Commission carried out a national survey of service users’ experiences of inpatient mental health services in 2011, in collaboration with the Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare. The survey was entitled “Your Views of Mental Health Inpatient Services”.

Today, the Minister for the State with responsibility for Disability, Equality, Older People, and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch TD, officially launches the findings of the survey in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin 4. 

The purpose of the survey was to gather information on the quality of mental health services from the perspective of those using services. Involving service users in a meaningful way in policy and planning is a key priority for the Mental Health Commission.

We were delighted with the response from over 700 service users who received inpatient care from 28 mental health services nationwide, including both public and private hospitals.

The results clearly demonstrate that most service users had a positive experience of being an inpatient in a mental health service with the large majority (84.4%) stating that they were satisfied overall with the service received. It is heartening to see that a large majority of participants (85.9%) would prefer to return to the hospital they attended if they had the choice, and a similar proportion reported that they would be willing to recommend the hospital to family and friends. This shows that many service users consider inpatient services to be of a high quality and standard.

Almost three quarters (73.4%) of respondents reported some level of improvement in their health status following their hospital stay and over two thirds (68.1%) of respondents perceived their health status at the time of completion of the survey to be Excellent, Very Good or Good. Admission for inpatient mental health care should therefore not be seen as a barrier to the attainment of good health.

The survey examined the views of service users on a number of dimensions of the care continuum including the admission process, information provision and communication, care planning, dignity and respect, access to alternative therapies, complaints systems, discharge planning and follow up care. It provides insight into what service users’ value and factors positively contributing to their journey through inpatient mental health services. It highlights areas working well and those that services could improve. Achieving service user involvement at all levels of the mental health system is a key recommendation in our national mental health policy, ‘A Vision for Change’. This survey demonstrates the active role service users are now adopting in their contact with mental health services, and their increasing involvement in policy and planning. Finding out the views of service users can enable their needs to be better met, thereby leading to higher quality mental health services.

Copies of the Executive Summary Report and the Full National Report are available below: