Person Centred Improvement
In this section:
- Person Centred Improvement Service (PCIS)
- Patient Involvement
- Carer Engagement
- Volunteer Service
- Patients' Advocacy Service (PAS)
- Spiritual and Pastoral Care
- Equality, Diversity and Rights (EDR)
- Stakeholder Feedback
Person Centred Improvement Service
The Person Centred Improvement Service (PCIS) supports services across The State Hospital through its diverse work-streams, namely:
- Person-centred specific improvement projects.
- Meaningful stakeholder involvement: patients, carers, volunteers and the public (limited to external regulatory / supporting bodies and third sector partners).
- Volunteer services.
- Carer / Named Person / visitor support.
- Spiritual and Pastoral Care.
- Equality agenda.
- Supporting the role of the Patients’ Advocacy Service (PAS).
The Person Centred Delivery Plan 2018/21 builds on the national commitment to provide services developed through “mutually beneficial partnerships between patients, their families and those delivering healthcare services, which respect individual needs and values and which demonstrates compassion, continuity, clear communication and shared decision making.”
The Person Centred Improvement Steering Group (PCISG) met regularly during the year to ensure compliance with legislative requirements and to support the service to respond to national drivers and enhance local practice.
Extensive partnership working with external stakeholder groups took place in 2019/20 including the Scottish Government Person Centred Stakeholder Group, Volunteer Scotland, Scottish Health Council, Health Improvement Scotland, and Carers’ Trust (Scotland).
Key pieces of work undertaken during the year include:
- Service review informing successful recruitment to vacant post.
- A new and improved feedback database to support a more effective approach to identifying themes and trends and to strengthen associated monitoring.
- Delivery of the person-centred ‘What Matters to You?’ (WMTY) initiative.
- Patient engagement in the Clinical Care Model Consultation process.
- Development of a process to enable patients to engage in the Staff and Volunteer Excellence Awards.
- Patient engagement in the TSH3030 quality improvement initiative.
- Addition of the ‘Building Thoughts, Connecting Blocks’ feedback mechanism to the patient feedback toolkit.
- Carers’ event as part of the national ‘Getting Carers Connected in their Communities’ initiative.
- Volunteers’ event as part of the national ‘Time to Celebrate’ initiative.
- Increased opportunity for the Board to hear stakeholder feedback through use of ‘Emotional Touchpoint’ presentations.
- Completion of the tendering process for the Patients’ Advocacy Service.
Further detail is captured in the PCIS Annual Report 2019/20 covering the period 1 November 2018 to 31
October 2019.
PCIS (general information) (April 2019)
Participation Standards
About the Participation Standard
2016/17 National Overview Report
Patient involvement in care planning and objective setting ensures patients are meaningfully engaged in planning and reviewing their care, taking ownership where appropriate.
In recognition of the need to ensure that all patients are able to share their views, the PCIS has developed a range of skills to support patients including graphic facilitation and creative feedback.
The Patient Involvement Facilitator supports ongoing patient involvement, liaising with staff across the Hospital to ensure that feedback is considered and services are developed incorporating feedback from patients. There is a close working relationship with the Complaints Officer to ensure that patients are enabled to fully engage in stage one of the new NHS Model Complaints Handling Procedure.
Patients are encouraged to be actively involved in consultations about the design and delivery of services which affect their care and treatment. This is facilitated in a number of different ways including the Patient Partnership Group (PPG), Person Centred Improvement Steering Group, consultation forums, the Hospital’s formal Annual Review process, patient questionnaires and suggestion / feedback boxes. Patients are supported to meaningfully contribute to the annual What Matters To You initiative, a national event.
Patients and their carers are actively involved in the Care Programme Approach (CPA) process which applies to all State Hospital patients at every stage of their care pathway. This ensures that care and treatment plan objectives are well informed based on a shared understanding.
As partners in the delivery of care, effective communication with carers continues to be a priority with extensive measures employed to inform, consult and engage. The Person Centred Improvement Advisor ensures that carers are kept well informed through regular update bulletins, dedicated information leaflets and other relevant materials.
Patient visitors are supported to provide feedback by way of compliments, comments, concerns and complaints either verbally, via email, or through the suggestion boxes. This group are also encouraged to engage in the annual What Matters To You initiative.
Carers are represented through a number of forums including the Person Centred Improvement Steering Group, consultation and focus groups. The e-Carers’ Support Group is central to supporting and facilitating active consultation and engagement as well as facilitating networking opportunities.
Carers continue to be involved in local and national consultations and reviews, and alongside members of staff and the public, are invited to attend meetings of the Board as observers. Additionally, the Hospital supports National Carers’ Week every June, in which carers are encouraged to actively participate.
Information for carers is available from the dedicated Patient Visitors & Carers section of this website
The Hospital recognises the important and valuable contribution made by volunteers to enrich the quality of everyday life for patients. As a result, the Volunteer Service continues to develop to meet the needs of our patient population.
Within The State Hospital volunteers engage in a variety of roles: patient visits; supporting the work of the Spiritual & Pastoral Care Team, patient learning, patient activities, and the Person Centred Improvement Steering Group.
A number of new roles are being explored, creating the opportunity to complement existing services where there may be specific skill gaps i.e. teaching a foreign language / musical instrument. A role description is created which helps to match the skill set and personality of the volunteer to the identified need of individual patients.
The State Hospital holds the Investing in Volunteers Award; a nationally recognised accreditation which is audited by Volunteer Scotland.
Volunteering and The State Hospital (volunteer information - PCIS) (July 2019)
Volunteer Application Form (PCIS)
Dealing with the Media (volunteer information - PCIS) (April 2019)
Personal Use of Social Media (volunteer information - PCIS) (April 2019)
State Hospital Volunteering Policy and Procedure
Guidance on Reimbursement of ‘Out of Pocket’ Expenses for Volunteers within NHSScotland; CEL(2011)23
To view current Volunteering Roles within The State Hospital, please visit the Volunteer Scotland website at https://www.volunteerscotland.net
Patients’ Advocacy Service (PAS)
All State Hospital patients have a legal right of access to independent advocacy. Through a Service Level Agreement (SLA), the Hospital ensures independent advocacy services are available free of charge to State Hospital patients. Positive satisfaction is measured via the annual independent Advocacy patient satisfaction questionnaire. Emphasis continues to be focused on supporting patients to engage effectively in tribunals and case reviews with additional resources in place to support the views of ‘harder to reach’ patients including those for whom English is a second language and patients with a learning disability.
The Hospital supports patients to engage in a variety of forms of worship including the Christian Fellowship Group facilitated by the Spiritual & Pastoral Care Team. There is a dedicated Multi Faith Centre and the Chaplaincy Team makes regular visits to wards to ensure individual patient needs are fulfilled in this respect.
The value of spirituality within the recovery journey has been recognised. As a result processes around more effectively integrating spirituality within care and treatment planning continue to be explored.
Equality, Diversity and Rights (EDR)
The Board acknowledges its duties in respect of meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, and is committed to ensuring services are fair and accessible to all stakeholders.
Equality and diversity is embedded within service delivery, which takes account of individual need and promotes the key principles of Human Rights: to eliminate discrimination, to develop equality of opportunity, and to foster good relations.
Equality Impact Assessments are undertaken on all policies, services and functions to ensure that any potential negative impact is addressed.
British Sign Language (BSL) Action Plan 2018-24
Equality Outcomes 2013-17: Update (April 2017) Employment Monitoring data covering disability, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation can be found in the Workforce section where our Staff Governance Equal Pay Statement - April 2017 can also be found.
The Board, staff and volunteers have a unique and long- term relationship with patients, carers and stakeholders. Emphasis is on actively gathering feedback, listening to patients and carers, and importantly, taking appropriate action in response. The ‘Patient Voice’ is embedded in the work of the Clinical Governance Committee and the wider Board.
The Datix system is used to record complaints. Feedback is recorded within a locally tailored database developed to support analysis through which person-centred themes are identified aligned to national initiatives including Excellence in Care, Realistic Medicine and What Matters to you?
Complaints accounted for 16% of the overall feedback received in 2019/20 compared to 15% in 2018/19 and 35% in 2017/18.
In 2019/20:
- 52 complaints were received from 21 complainants.
- Seven (13%) complainants made one or more complaints, compared to 35 (77%) complainants in 2018/19.
- Three carers submitted 21 complaints (1) (4) & (16) respectively, accounting for 40% of all complaints received. Although there was a decrease in the number of carers who made a complaint this year compared to the previous year (9), there was an increase in the number of complaints received from carers compared to the previous year (16).
- One carer accounted for 76% (16) of the total number of complaints made by carers. Of the 16 complaints received, 14 were closed in this reporting year, two of which were fully upheld and five partially upheld.
- The independent Patients’ Advocacy Service (PAS) continued to support patients who wish to make a complaint but do not wish to do so directly. This year PAS supported 48% (25) of all complaints received, similar to 46% (28) in the previous year.
Complainants who remain unhappy with The State Hospital’s response to their complaint can ask the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO) to review their complaint. During 2019/20 two complaints were referred to the SPSO.
Feedback, Comments, Concerns and Complaints Annual Reports
The State Hospital’s Board for Scotland Complaints & Feedback Procedure (April 2017)